FORTY-FIFTH  REGIMENT 
PA.VVI. 


1661-1665 


33 


History 


of  the 


Forty-Fifth  Regiment 

Pennsylvania 

Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 
1861-1865 


WRITTEN  BY  THE  COMRADES. 

Edited  and  Arranged  by 
ALLEN  D.  ALBERT,  Private  of  Company  D. 


GRIT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

WlLLIAMSPORT,    PA. 

1912 


Comrades  ; 


and 

C5 

CfjiltJtrn 


257248 


Andrew  G.    Curtin 
The  War  Governor  of  Penna. 


THE  FOREWORD 

This  book  reminds  me  of  the  manner  in  which  we  started  on 
many  an  important  march.  Reveille  at  three  in  the  morning,  fall 
in  at  four,  false  starts  and  standing  in  line  until  weary  and  finally 
off  at  six-thirty  or  later. 

In  the  early  seventies  several  beginnings  were  made  to  organize 
a  movement  to  write  a  regimental  history  but  beyond  naming  officers 
of  the  regimental  association  and  historian  and  collecting  a  few 
dollars  for  expenses  the  attempts  died  an  early  death. 

The  wife  of  the  editor  had  been  taught  patriotism  in  school  and 
at  home  and  being  resolved  that  her  children  should  know  of  the 
Civil  War  and  its  battles,  for  years  commemorated  the  anniversaries 
of  those  battles  in  which  her  husband  had  participated.  On  the 
forty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness  she  called 
together  her  husband  and  Comrades  R.  C.  Cheeseman,  N.  A.  Lucas 
and  W.  A.  Roberts,  and  their  wives,  and,  in  response  to  an  invitation 
to  be  present  in  spirit  if  not  in  person,  Gen.  James  A.  Beaver  wrote 
a  letter  and  appealed  to  the  comrades  in  the  city  of  Washington  to 
take  up  the  work  of  a  regimental  history.  The  meeting  accepted 
the  trust,  organized  the  Washington  Association  of  Survivors  of 
the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry,  with  Brevet  Major 
R.  C.  Cheeseman  as  president,  A.  D.  Albert  secretary,  and  W.  A. 
Roberts  treasurer.  The  association  worked  so  energetically  and 
effectively  that  a  regimental  reunion  was  called  to  meet  in  Williams- 
port,  Pa.,  on  March  2d,  1910.  Some  sixty  of  the  surviving  com 
rades  answered  roll  call,  and  encouraged  by  the  speeches  of  General 
Beaver,  General  J.  I.  Curtin,  Judge  R.  G.  Richards  and  others,  and 
inspirited  by  the  reports  of  the  officers  of  the  Washington  Associa 
tion,  proceeded  to  elect  the  officers  of  that  organization  as  the  offi 
cers  of  the  Regimental  Association  and  appointed  the  Secretary  the 
editor  of  the  history.  The  necessary  committees  were  also  appointed, 
and  the  work  progressed  rapidly  and  favorably,  handicapped,  how 
ever,  by  the  death  of  Major  Cheeseman,  March  25th,  1910.  His 
successor  was  chosen  in  the  person  of  First  Sergeant  John  B.  Emery, 
who  put  all  of  his  business  success  and  energy  into  the  making  of 
the  history,  with  good  results. 


The  Editorial  Committee  met  in  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  April  2oth, 
1911,  examined  manuscript,  and  owing  to  the  quantity  being  greater 
than  the  proposed  volume  required,  duplications  and  autobiographies 
were  to  a  great  degree  eliminated. 

The  joint  committees  met  in  Williamsport  on  April  25th,  and 
made  the  necessary  arrangements  to  launch  the  history. 

Special  credit  is  due  to  Sergeant  Eugene  Beauge,  who,  besides 
contributing  chapters  of  regimental  history,  not  only  furnished  other 
necessary  material  for  the  history  but  also  gave  freely  in  time  and 
labor  as  a  member  of  the  Editorial  Committee. 

In  concluding  I  desire  to  thank  the  Ladies  of  the  Washington 
Association  for  their  untiring  devotion  to  our  interests; 

Lieutenant  Thomas  J.  Davies  and  Judge  R.  G.  Richards  of  the 
Editorial  Committee; 

First  Sergeants  W.  H.  Musser  and  W.  H.  Mitchell,  Lieutenant 
E.  E.  Myers,  Treasurer  W.  A.  Roberts,  Captains  L.  W.  Lord  and 
Charles  T.  Fryberger,  Sergeant  Sylvester  Houghton  and  W.  L. 
Hershey  for  their  zeal  and  patience  in  working  out  the  trying  de 
tails  of  the  rosters;  and  Lieutenant  J.  J.  Rogers,  Sergeants  Josiah 
McManigal  and  Theophilus  Lucas,  and  J.  C.  Roosa,  W.  H.  Fry  and 
others  for  valuable  assistance. 

This  book  is  intended  as  a  history  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteer  Infantry  and  not  as  a  history  of  the  Civil  War. 

THE  EDITOR. 


First  Lieut.  W.  T.  Fitzgerald 


BATTLE  SONG  OF  THE  FORTY-FIFTH 

By  LIEUTENANT  W.  T.  FITZGERALD 

We  are  fighting  for  our  country, 
We're  fighting  for  our  trust, 
We  are  fighting  for  our  native  land 
Where  sleeps  our  fathers'  dust; 
It  shall  not  be  dissevered 
Though  it  cost  us  bloody  wars, 
For  we  never  will  give  up  that  land, 
Where  floats  the  Stripes  and  Stars. 

CHORUS — 

Hurrah !  Hurrah !  for  equal  rights,  hurrah ! 
Hurrah !  Hurrah !  for  our  country's  Flag, 
The  grand  old  Stripes  and  Stars. 

We  know   our  cause  is  holy, 

We  know  we're  in  the  right, 

And  twenty  million  freemen 

Stand   ready  for  the  fight; 

Our  bride  is  fair  Columbia, 

No  stain  her  beauty  mars ; 

O'er  her  we'll  raise  that  grand  old  Flag, 

The  glorious  Stripes  and  Stars. 

CHORUS — 

We  do  not   want  your  cotton, 
We  do  not  want  your  slaves, 
But  sooner  than  divide  this  land 
We'll  fill  your  Southern  graves; 
With  Lincoln  for  our  leader 
We'll   wear  our  battle   scars, 
For  we  never  will  give  up  that  Flag, 
The  grand  old  Stripes  and  Stars. 

CHORUS — 

And  when  the  war  is  over 
We'll  each  resume  our  home, 
And  treat  you  then  as  brothers 
Wherever  you  may  roam; 
We'll  pledge  the  hand  of  friendship 
And  think  no  more  of  wars, 
Dwelling  in  peace  beneath  that  Flag, 
The  grand  old  Stripes  and  Stars. 

CHORUS — 

Fort  Drayton,  S.  C,  January,  1862. 


CONTENTS 


PART   I— THE  HISTORY 

Chapter          I     Our  First  Year 13-36 

1  The  Organization 

2  In  South  Carolina 

James  A.  Beaver 

Chapter        II     The  Right  Wing  in  South  Carolina 37-  46 

Eugene  Beauge 

Chapter      III     The   Maryland    Campaign 47-50 

W.  A.  Roberts 

Chapter       IV    The  Forty-Fifth  at  South  Mountain 51-56 

Eugene  Beauge 

Chapter        V     The  Forty- Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi 60-  81 

Eugene  Beauge 

Chapter      VI     Recollections  of  Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee..       82-  97 
J.  H.  Buckley 

Chapter     VII     Itinerary  of  the  East  Tennessee  Campaign 98-110 

Thomas  J.  Davies 

Chapter  VIII     Home  on  Veteran  Furlough. 

Rendezvous  at  Annapolis.     The   Wilderness 111-120 

W.  A.  Roberts 

In  the  Wilderness.     Singing  Under  Fire 120-122 

R.  G.  Richards 

Battle  of  the  Wilderness 123-126 

Thomas  J.  Davies 

Chapter      IX     From   the    Wilderness    to    Petersburg 127-148 

Eugene   Beauge 

Chapter        X     Battle  of  the  Crater 149-159 

R.  G.  Richards 

Chapter      XI     Weldon  Railroad  and  Pegram's  Farm 160-175 

Eugene  Beauge 

Chapter     XII     Closing  Events   176-187 

Eugene  Beauge 


CONTENTS 


PART  II— COMPANY  SKETCHES  AND  PERSONAL 
REMINISCENCES 

The   Band 193-195 

Jarid  C.  Irwin 

Personal   Reminiscences  of  the   War 195-200 

George  W.  Eminhizer 

Sketch  of  Company  C 200-204 

James  S.  Mitchell 

Memoranda  from  the  Diary  of  Captain  John  O.  Campbell 204-213 

Mrs.  J.  M.  Adair 

History  of  Company  E 213-224 

W.  H.  Musser 

Formation  of  Company  F 224-248 

L.  W.  Lord 

Letters  of   Lieutenant   Samuel  W.   Haynes 248-262 

Mrs.  Jane  W.  Haynes 

On  Guard 262-263 

W.  T.  Fitzgerald 

Company  G  at  Camp  Curtin  and  Camp  Casey 263-269 

Eugene  Beauge 

Organization  of  Company  H 269-271 

John  C.  Roosa 

Organization    of    Company    I 

Sylvester  Houghton 

Experience   of   an    Orange    Recruit 

E.  E.   Myers 

Lieutenant  Colonel  F.  M.  Hills 304-305 

Sylvester  Houghton 

A  Chaplain's  Reminiscences 

F.  A.  Cast 

Medical  History  of  Our  Regiment 

James  A.  Myers 


CONTENTS 


PART  II— CONTINUED 

Sketch  of  Surgeon  Davison 322-323 

Horrors    of    Rebel    Prisons 324-332 

James  F.  Deuel 

In  Libbey  and  Salisbury  Prisons '. 332-335 

Alexander  Duncan 

My  Experience  in  Prison  Life 336-351 

E.  W.  McElroy 

Life  in  Prison  and  Hospital 352-359 

J.  B.  Emery 

Escape   from   Rebel   Prison 360-375 

R.  G.  Richards 

Capture  of  Flag  of  the  Sixth  Virginia  Infantry 375-376 

Frank  Hogan 

A  Few  Incidents  of  the  Civil  War 376-377 

Otis  Smith 

Recollections  of  a  Recruit 378-380 

W.  J.  Arthur 

Never  Absent  a    Day 380-381 

John  G.  Heberling 

Two  Boys  Off  for  the  War 381-384 

Ira  Odell 

John  J.   Rogers 385-386 

My    First    Battle 386-387 

William  H.  Watrous 

Personal  Reminiscences    387-389 

J.  H.  Strickler 

My  Campaigns 

Maryland    47-50 

Virginia    389-392 

Kentucky    392-393 

Mississippi    393-398 

East  Tennessee    398-409 

W.  A.  Roberts 

The   Itinerary 410-418 

Eugene  Beauge 

Our  First  Colonel. .  419- 


CONTENTS 


PART  III— THE  ROSTERS 

Field,  Staff  and  Band 423-426 

Roland  C.  Cheeseman 

Company   A 426-435 

Roland  C.  Cheeseman 

Company    B 435-444 

M.  S.  Mullin  and  A.  D.  Albert 

Company  C 445-454 

James  A.  Mitchell  and  Josiah  McManigal 

Company  D 454-464 

Charles  T.  Fryberger 

Company  E 464-473 

W.  H.'  Musser 

Company  F 473-484 

L.  W.  Lord 

Company    G 484-496 

Eugene  Beauge 

Company    H 497-505 

A.  D.  Albert 

Company    1 506-514 

Sylvester   Houghton 

Company  K 514-524 

W.  A.  Roberts 

Brevet  Colonel  Theodore  Gregg 524-526 

W.  T.  Fitzgerald 

Brevet  Major  R.  C.  Cheeseman 526-527 

A.  D.  Albert 

Captain  J.   O.   Campbell 

Mrs.  J.  M.  Adair 

Lieutenant  Levi  R.  Robb 

T.  J.   Davies 


General   J.    B.   Gordon's    Horse 

3Ute  to  the  F 
C.  W.  Wood 


A  Tribute  to  the  Forty-Fifth 530 


PART  I 

CJje 


Lieut.  Col.  James  A.  Beaver 


Our  First  Year 


CHAPTER  I— SEC.  I 

OUR  FIRST  YEAR 

BY  LIEUT.  COL.  JAMES  A.  BEAVER. 

That  was  a  proud  moment  for  Company  H,  Second  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  when,  in  response  to  the  appeal  of  the 
commander  of  the  army  in  which  it  served,  every  officer  and  man 
stepped  to  the  front  to  signify  their  willingness  to  remain  in  the 
service  after  the  expiration  of  their  term  of  enlistment. 

The  company  to  which  I  have  referred  made  no  conditions.  It 
simply  expressed  its  willingness,  in  the  most  prompt  and  hearty  way, 
to  remain  under  any  conditions,  if,  in  the  judgment  of  the  command 
ing  general,  it  was  thought  desirable  to  do  so. 

I  was  the  first  lieutenant  of  that  company.  Our  captain,  Dr. 
John  B.  Mitchell,  a  most  excellent  officer  in  every  way,  had  a  lame 
ankle,  which  prevented  his  exercising  the  company  in  regular  com 
pany  drill.  He  was  usually  in  command  in  the  battalion  move 
ments — understood  them  thoroughly,  and  was  able  to  handle  the 
company  in  an  intelligent  and  capable  way — but  the  details  of  drill 
depended  largely,  upon  me.  I  had  great  love  for  tactics,  and  took 
great  pride  in  our  company,  so  the  extent  of  our  company  drills  not 
only  impressed  the  men  with  their  number  and  variety,  but  made  an 
impression  generally  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the  company  and  its 
superiority  in  drill,  and,  as  a  consequence,  in  discipline. 

This,  I  think,  at  least  from  the  military  point  of  view,  led  to  sev 
eral  proposals  to  me  by  gentlemen  holding  superior  rank,  to  unite 
with  them  in  organizing  a  regiment  for  three  years'  service.  Among 
those  who  made  this  proposition  was  Lieutenant  Colonel  Thomas 
Welsh,  of  our  three  months'  regiment.  I  agreed  to  join  with  him 
in  raising  a  regiment  for  three  years,  of  which  he  was  to  be  the 
colonel  and  I  the  lieutenant  colonel.  Although  perfectly  ready, 
and  indeed  anxious,  to  remain  in  the  service  in  the  position  which 
I  then  occupied,  as  long  as  our  commanding  general  thought  it  nec 
essary  or  advisable,  I  confess  that  I  wras  somewhat  relieved  when, 
as  a  consequence  of  the  halting  assent  of  some  of  the  companies  of 
our  regiment,  directions  were  given  that  it  should  take  up  its  line 
of  march  for  Harrisburg,  in  order  to  be  mustered  out. 


14       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

It  is  not  only  highly  probable,  but  I  think  practically  certain, 
that  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  approach  of  Colonel  Welsh  and 
others  to  me  to  join  with  them  in  raising  a  regiment  for  the  war 
was  the  fact  that  I  was  from  the  same  town  as  the  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  that  I  could  probably  help  at  least  in  securing 
authority  to  raise  the  regiment  and  ultimately  be  able,  through  the 
Governor,  to  influence  companies  to  join  it. 

At  this  time,  however,  the  relations  between  the  War  Depart 
ment  at  Washington  and  the  state  administration  at  Harrisburg 
were  not  cordial,  and  anyone  who  was  familiar  with  the  strained 
personal  relations  which  existed  between  the  Secretary  of  War  and 
the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  will  not  be  at  a  loss  to  understand 
this.  The  War  Department  had  not  only  declined  to  accept  the 
Pennsylvania  Reserves,  which  had  been  organized  under  the  author 
ity  of  the  legislature  and  executive  of  Pennsylvania,  but  it  was  un 
derstood  that  no  regiments  would  be  accepted  unless  organized  and 
recruited  under  direct  authority  from  the  War  Department. 

In  view  of  this  condition  of  affairs,  and  of  the  further  fact  that 
I  was  personally  acquainted  with  General  Cameron,  it  was  agreed 
between  Colonel  Welsh  and  myself  that  on  our  way  to  Harrisburg 
I  should  leave  the  regiment  for  a  time  and  visit  Washington,  with 
a  view  of  securing  authority  from  General  Cameron,  then  Secre 
tary  of  War,  to  recruit  a  regiment  in  Pennsylvania.  Accordingly, 
as  our  route  to  Harrisburg  led  over  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad 
from  Harpers  Ferry  to  Baltimore,  I  left  it  at  the  latter  place  and 
visited  Washington,  with  the  above-mentioned  object  in  view. 

At  Baltimore,  July  2ist,  1861,  I  wrote  my  mother:  "We  are 
here  on  our  way  home.  The  regiment  will  go  to  Harrisburg  to 
day.  I  intend  going  over  to  Washington  on  business  and  will  join 
the  regiment  at  Harrisburg,  to  be  mustered  out.  The  company  will 
expect  me  to  go  with  it  to  Bellefonte.  If  I  can  avoid  doing  so  I  will 
stop  at  home  before  going  there.  We  came  by  way  of  Harpers 
Ferry  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad.  The  scene  of  ruin  and 
ruthless  devastation  at  Harpers  Ferry  beggars  description.  I  could 
scarcely  have  believed  in  such  Satanic  passion  in  men,  had  I  not 
seen  the  results." 

When  I  reached  Washington  the  result  of  the  battle  of  Bull  Run 
was  known  there,  and  there  was  intense  excitement,  uncertainty, 
and  gloom,  and  not  a  little  trepidation. 


Our  First  Year 


One  of  the  casulaties  of  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  was  the  death 
of  Col.  James  Cameron,  of  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York  regiment, 
known  as  "The  Highlanders."  He  was  the  brother  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  War.  Not  finding  General  Cameron  at  his  office,  and  my 
relations  with  his  family  being  such  as  warranted  it,  I  called  at  his 
house,  found  him  in  the  library,  stretched  upon  a  lounge,  prostrated 
with  grief  over  the  death  of  his  brother.  Being  ushered  into  his 
presence,  and  finding  that  my  visit  was  not  regarded  as  an  intrusion, 
I  was  gradually  led  to  unfold  its  object  and,  as  a  result,  received 
authority,  very  cordially  given,  to  recruit  the  regiment,  of  which  I 
expected  to  be  one  of  the  field  officers.  The  readiness  with  which 
this  request  was  granted  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  the  friend 
liness  manifested  to  me  personally,  were  explained  later  when  I 
went  to  ask  a  much  greater  favor  on  behalf  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regi 
ment,  of  which  I  shall  speak  in  its  proper  place. 

On  my  return  to  Harrisburg,  in  an  interview  writh  Governor 
Curtin,  I  received,  in  writing,  dated  July  22d,  1861,  his  promise  to 
make  me  lieutenant  colonel  of  the  first  regiment  raised  under  State 
authority.  I  had  a  verbal  promise  also  that  Colonel  Welsh  should 
be  its  colonel. 

Armed  with  this  double  authority,  I  returned  home  after  the 
muster-out  of  our  three  months'  company,  and  immediately  ar 
ranged  to  recruit  five  companies  in  Centre  County.  The  time  was 
auspicious.  Sentiment  \vas  intensely  patriotic.  It  was  not  difficult 
to  recruit  men.  More  men  had  offered  themselves  for  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Reserves  than  could  be  accepted.  The  three  months'  men 
were  discharged  and  many  of  them  were  anxious  to  return  to  the 
service.  I  arranged  almost  immediately  for  two  companies  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  Bellefonte,  one  to  be  recruited  by  John 
I.  Curtin,  and  the  other  by  William  Raphile.  They  commenced  to 
recruit  about  the  middle  of  August.  Later,  Austin  Curtin  recruited 
an  additional  company,  and  Henry  Stevens  and  J.  Oliver  Campbell 
started  a  company  early  in  September,  to  be  recruited  from  the 
southwestern  portion  of  the  county,  in  the  townships  of  Halfmoon, 
Ferguson,  etc. 

Before  completing  my  arrangements  for  the  five  companies,  how 
ever,  and  while  recruiting  was  going  on  rapidly  in  those  already 
provided  for,  I  was  summoned  by  the  Governor  to  go  to  Harrisburg, 
about  the  5th  of  September,  to  assist  Colonel  Welsh  in'  the  man 
agement  of  Camp  Curtin.  On  the  Qth  of  September  I  was  regu- 


1 6       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

lady  installed  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties  there,  my  special  duties, 
as  expressed  at  the  time,  being  uto  muster  in  the  troops  as  they  ar 
rived,  to  frank  soldiers'  letters  in  the  peculiar  manner  fixed  by  Con 
gress,  and  take  command  in  the  absence  of  Colonel  Welsh."  Later, 
as  the  troops  multiplied  and  the  office  duties  increased,  Colonel 
Welsh  confined  himself  more  particularly  to  the  duties  of  the  office, 
and  I  had  charge  of  all  the  outside  arrangements  of  the  camp,  look 
ing  after  its  policing,  after  the  guard  duty,  the  installing  of  new 
companies  as  they  arrived,  etc.  \Vithin  a  day  or  two  after  my  ar 
rival,  I  wrote :  "We  have  over  5,000  men  here  now  and  more  are 
constantly  arriving.  It  is  becoming  rather  unwieldy,  and  we  will 
make  an  effort  to  despatch  two  or  three  regiments  this  week  and 
thus  reduce  the  number  of  men  and  give  us  more  room." 

It  was  intended  that  Capt.  J.  Merrill  Linn's  Company,  of  Lew- 
isburg,  of  which  my  brother,  Jacob  Gilbert  Beaver,  was  second  lieu 
tenant,  should  be  attached  to  our  regiment ;  but  inasmuch  as  we  were 
to  be  retained  in  Camp  Curtin  indefinitely,  and  companies  were 
needed  to  fill  up  other  regiments,  this  company  was  later  assigned 
to  the  Fifty-first  Regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  John  F.  Hart- 
ran  ft.  This  Avas  true  of  several  other  companies  which  we  had  in 
tended  to  have  mustered  into  our  regiment. 

Colonel  Welsh  was  summoned  to  the  command  of  Camp  Curtin 
so  early  after  his  discharge  in  the  three  months'  service  that  he  had 
little  time  to  personally  superintend  recruiting  in  Lancaster  County, 
where  his  home  was.  He,  however,  brought  one  full  company  from 
his  home  town — Columbia — and  another  company  not  more  than 
half  filled  from  Maytown.  The  company  recruited  by  Captain 
Raphile,  was  not  full  when  it  reached  Camp  Curtin,  and  a  combi 
nation  was  formed,  by  which  the  Maytown  squad  in  command  of 
Captain  Haines  and  that  of  Captain  Raphile,  from  Bellefonte,  should 
be  united,  Haines  becoming  the  captain  and  Raphile  the  first  lieu 
tenant.  This  afterwards  became  Company  B  of  the  Forty-fifth 
Regiment. 

The  company  recruited  by  John  I.  Curtin,  who  had  served  in 
Company  H,  Second  Regiment,  was  the  first  company,  whose  ranks 
were  filled,  and  it  became  Company  A. 

About  the  25th  of  September  a  company  recruited  in  Belleville, 
Mifflin  County,  where  my  mother  resided,  came  into  camp  and  ex 
pressed  a  desire  to  join  our  regiment.  This,  with  the  three  com 
panies  which  I  had  provided  for  in  Centre  county,  and  Linn's  com- 


Our  First  Year  17 


pany  from  Union  County,  made  the  five  for  which  I  felt  personally 
responsible;  and  when  I  had  this  arrangement  made  I  considered 
that  my  contract  in  regard  to  the  raising  of  the  regiment  had  been 
fully  complied  with. 

The  union  of  Haines'  and  Raphile's,  however,  and  the  trans 
fer  of  Linn's  company  from  our  regiment  to  the  Fifty-first,  left  us 
still  four  companies  short.  Subsequently  an  arrangement  was  made 
by  which  a  company  composed  of  squads  from  Wayne  and  Tioga 
Counties,  and  three  others  recruited  in  Tioga  and  Potter  Counties 
were  united  with  those  which  had  been  in  camp  for  a  number  of 
weeks,  so  as  to  complete  the  organization  of  the  regiment  and  enable 
it  to  prepare  to  take  the  field.  In  order  to  effect  this  result,  John 
M.  Kilbourne,  of  Potter  County,  who  was  connected  with  these 
companies  in  some  way,  was  agreed  upon  as  the  major  of  the  regi 
ment. 

The  final  organization  of  the  regiment  took  place  on  the  2ist 
of  October,  1861,  which  happened  to  be  my  twenty- fourth  birthday. 
The  organization,  so  far  as  the  colonel  and  lieutenant  colonel  were 
concerned,  had  been  fixed  from  the  beginning;  but  on  that  day  the 
regimental  organization  was  completed,  and  stood  as  follows : 

Colonel,  Thomas  Welsh,  of  Columbia,  Lancaster  County ;  Lieu 
tenant  Colonel,  James  A.  Beaver,  of  Bellefonte,  Center  County; 
Major,  John  M.  Kilbourne,  of  Potter  County;  Adjutant,  Theodore 
Gregg,  of  Center  County  (promoted  from  first  lieutenant  of  Com 
pany  A)  ;  Quartermaster,  John  McClure,  of  Columbia,  Lancaster 
County;  Surgeon,  Dr.  George  L.  Potter,  of  Bellefonte,  Center 
County;  Assistant  Surgeon,  Theodore  S.  Christ,  of  Lewisburg, 
Union  County;  Chaplain,  William  J.  Gibson,  D.  D.,  of  Center 
County. 

Noncommissioned  staff:     Sergeant  Major,  Harvey  H.  Benner, 
of  Bellefonte,  Center  County;  Quartermaster  Sergeant,  Amos  Mul 
len,  of  Columbia,  Lancaster  County ;  Commissary  Sergeant,  Jaco 
S.  Roth,    of   Lancaster    County;    Hospital    Steward,    W.    Godf 
Hunter;  Principal  Musician,  George  Dyer;  Band  Leader,  Thor 
D.  Grant,  of  Northumberland  County. 

The  companies   composing  the  regiment  were:     Company 
Captain  John  I.  Curtin,  of  Center  County;  Company  B,  Captain 
Henry  A.  Haines,  of  Lancaster  County;  Company  C,  Captaii 
Ham  G.  Bigelow,  of  Mifflin  County;  Company  D,  Captain  Au< 
Curtin   of  Center  County;  Company  E,  Captain  Henry  Stevens,  o 


1 8       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Center  County;  Company  F,  Captain  Charles  E.  Parker,  of  Wayne 
County;  Company  G,  Captain  Nelson  Whitney,  of  Tioga  County; 
Company  H,  Captain  Edward  G.  Scheiffelin,  of  Tioga  County; 
Company  I,  Captain  Francis  M.  Hills,  of  Tioga  County;  Company 
K,  Captain  Ezekiel  Y.  Rambo,  of  Lancaster  County. 

The  band,  which  was  then  allowed  in  regimental  organizations, 
was  composed  of  men  recruited  in  Sunbury,  Northumberland 
County. 

The  day  following  the  organization  Governor  Curtin  presented 
to  the  regiment  what  was  knowrn  as  the  State  Flag  carried  by  Penn 
sylvania  regiments,  in  addition  to  the  colors  issued  by  the  United 
States  Government.  It  was  a  United  States  Flag,  with  coat  of  arms 
of  Pennsylvania  in  the  field  of  blue,  surrounded  by  the  stars  rep 
resenting  the  States  of  the  Union.  The  presentation  of  this  flag 
was  quite  a  notable  occasion  and  attracted  a  very  large  crowd,  as 
well  of  citizens  from  Harrisburg  as  the  thousands  of  soldiers  in 
camp. 

The  regiment  left  Harrisburg  at  noon  on  the  22d  of  October, 
was  transported  by  rail  to  Washington,  where  it  arrived  on  the 
23d,  and  encamped  a  short  distance  from  the  Capitol  on  the  Bladens- 
burg  road.  It  was  attached  to  what  was  known  as  "Casey's  Pro 
visional  Division,"  and  was  finally  assigned  to  the  brigade  com 
manded  by  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard,  and  went  into  camp  with  his 
brigade  on  Sunday,  the  2/th  of  October,  the  ground  occupied  by 
its  camp  being  a  part  of  the  battlefield  of  Bladensburg  in  the  war 
of  1812. 

On  the  2cl  of  November  orders  \vere  received  to  prepare  for  an 
expedition,  leaving  our  tents  and  camp  equipage,  and  taking  pro 
visions  for  six  days,  returning  to  our  camp  when  the  object  of  the 
expedition  was  attained. 

Persistent  rumors  of  trouble  in  the  election,  which  was  to  oc 
cur  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  on  Tuesday,  November  5th,  had  been 
circulated  and  seemed  to  be  well  founded.  The  object  of  our  ex 
pedition,  as  we  subsequently  learned,  was  to  march  to  Prince  Fred 
erick  County,  in  order  to  preserve  peace  at  the  polls.  After  prayers 
by  the  Chaplain,  our  march  commenced  Sunday,  November  3d, 
1 86 1,  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  Forty-fifth  was  in  the 
advance,  and  I  had  the  honor  of  leading,  with  Captain  Rambo's 
Company.  We  marched  fourteen  miles  that  day.  I  have  full  notes 
of  the  march  until  our  return  to  camp.  Whether  an  attempt  to 


Our  First  Year  19 


prevent  an  election  had  really  been  intended  or  not  it  is  difficult  now 
to  say.  The  presence  of  the  troops  undoubtedly  allayed  any  dispo 
sition  and  prevented  any  effort  in  that  direction.  Several  arrests 
were  made,  however,  including  one  ex-member  of  Congress,  who 
was  taken  by  the  troops  on  their  return  to  camp  and  turned  over  to 
the  authorities  at  Washington. 

It  was  splendid  practice  for  our  men.  Although  we  were  sup 
posed  to  have  had  six  days'  provisions,  as  required  by  orders,  I 
find,  at  the  close  of  the  fifth  day  the  significant  remark  in  my  diary : 
"Short  of  provisions."  As  a  result  of  this,  the  entry  for  the  next 
day,  Friday,  the  8th  of  November,  reads:  "Started  at  n  p.  m., 
yesterday  for  Washington  for  rations;  rode  all  night;  reached 
Washington  about  daylight  this  morning;  had  everything  ready  ex 
cept  wagons  before  nine  o'clock ;  waited  for  them  till  I  p.  m. : 
loaded  and  off  before  3  p.  m. ;  met  our  regiment  a  little  ways  from 
Centreville,  Company  H  having  had  nothing  to  eat  during  that 
day.  Provisions  got  to  camp  as  soon  as  the  regiment  reached  there," 
etc.,  etc. 

Another  little  incident  of  camp  life  is  also  noted:  "Cooked 
breakfast  myself  this  morning;  Isaac  not  to  be  found;  a  perfect  suc 
cess  ;  off  in  good  time,  marching  in  fine  style  and  reaching  our  old 
camp  home  by  I  p.  m.  Found  nearly  all  left  at  home  sick;  some 
of  them  sick  unto  death." 

This  last  entry  recalls  the  fact  that  the  location  for  our  camp 
could  not  have  been  worse.     It  was  on  low,  swampy  ground,  had 
been  camped  upon  previously,  and  was,  as  a  consequence,  full  of 
disease   and   vermin.      After    our   return   to   camp,    on   November 
nth,  I  was  appointed  field  officer  of  the  day  and  took  occasion  t 
embody  in  my  report  the   following  morning  a  vigorous  kick 
the  matter  of  our  camp.     My  report,  a  copy  of  which  I  preserve* 
reads : 

"The  camp  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  is  almost  entirely  sur 
rounded  by  a  swamp ;  is  upon  ground  formerly  occupied  by  other 
troops,  and  is  entirely  unfitted  for  a  camp.     The  large  number 
sick  in  hospital  and  quarters,  the  general  feeling  of  the  men   an 
the  decided  expression  of  opinion  by  brigade  and  regimental 
geons  would  argue  in  favor  of  a  change  to  more  commodious  ai 
healthful  grounds.     The  camp  is  filthy  with  vermin,  and  camp  1 
is  alarmingly  on  the  increase.     Smallpox  has,  to  a  limited  extent, 
and  measles,  to  a  large  extent,  taken  hold  of  the  men,  and  depression 


2O       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

of  spirits  and  consequent  neglect  of  duty  is  the  result — a  result  of 
all  others  to  be  lamented  and  dreaded  among  volunteer  troops." 

This  protest,  together  with  others  which  were  made  in  person 
to  General  Howard  by  Colonel  Welsh,  led  to  a  final  order  to  make 
a  change,  but  not  until  disease  had  carried  off  a  number  of  our  men 
and  had  taken  hold  of  many  others. 

Before  the  orders  for  a  change  were  issued,  I  made  a  visit  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  recalling  our  previous  conversation,  in  which 
he  had  said  to  me  very  cordially  that  if  at  any  time  he  could  be  of 
any  service  to  me  he  wished  I  would  call  upon  him.  He  then  told 
me  why  he  had  made  that  remark:  that  my  maternal  grandfather 
had  helped  him  financially  when  he  was  a  contractor  upon  the  Penn 
sylvania  canal,  and  had  always  been  his  friend,  and  that  he  had 
never  had  an  opportunity  to  return  the  kindness,  and  now  he  would 
be  glad  to  do  anything  in  his  power  to  serve  me. 

I  requested,  in  view  of  the  sickness  in  our  regiment,  and  the 
consequent  depression  of  the  spirits  of  our  men,  that  a  decided 
change  be  given  us,  and  suggested  that  if  re-enforcements  were 
needed,  as  the  newspapers  said  was  likely,  for  the  expedition  which 
had  previously  gone  to  the  south  and  had  captured  the  forts  at  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor  at  Beaufort,  S.  C,  that  we  be  sent  there. 
The  Secretary  said  he  would  give  the  matter  consideration  and  that, 
if  re-enforcements  were  to  be  sent  there,  we  should  have  the  first 
opportunity. 

Whilst  we  Avere  in  the  very  midst  of  arranging  our  new  camp, 
after  the  order  for  removal  had  been  given,  the  orders  for  embark 
ing  at  Baltimore  for  Fortress  Monroe  came.  Whether  Colonel 
Welsh  remained  behind  for  any  purpose  I  am  not  able  to  say;  but 
on  the  2Oth  of  November,  1861,  I  made  a  provision  return  in  Balti 
more  for  the  regiment,  signing  it  as  Lieutenant  Colonel  command 
ing,  of  which  I  retained  a  duplicate,  for  one-third  of  a  clay's  rations 
for  860  men,  making  287  rations  in  all. 

The  strength  of  the  command  at  that  time,  as  taken  from  verbal 
reports  of  the  officers  at  the  Union  Relief  Stations,  No.  119  and 
121,  Camden  Street,  Baltimore,  was:  Co.  A,  94;  Co.  B,  86:  Co.  C, 
84;  Co.  D,  87;  Co.  E,  93;  Co.  F,  75;  Co.  G,"  85;  Co.  H,  84;  Co. 
I,  87;  Co.  K,  87;  Band,  19. 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  allowance  for  the  noncommissioned 
staff,  and  there  must  have  been  some  sick,  for  the  provision  return 
shows  a  requisition  for  but  860. 


Our  First  Year  2i 


The  next  clay,  November  2ist,  I  wrote  to  my  mother:  "Our 
regiment  is  just  now  embarking  on  the  steamer  Pocahontas  for 
Fortress  Monroe,  'there  to  await  further  orders.'  We  expect  to  be 
part  of  new  reenforcements  for  General  Sherman  at  Beaufort,  S.  C. 
It  was  for  that  favor  that  I  applied  to  General  Cameron,  and  he 
generally  does  what  he  promises.  We  will  be  under  the  orders  of 
the  commandant  of  Fortress  Monroe  and  may  be  sent  somewhere 
else  than  to  South  Carolina.  I  will  write  you  from  Fortress  Monroe 
particulars  of  our  trip.  We  got  our  orders  to  march  yesterday  and 
were  ready  in  two  hours." 

The  explanation  of  our  being  able  to  break  camp  and  march  in 
such  a  short  time  \vas  that  our  new  camp  had  not  been  pitched,  and 
we  were  at  the  time  in  a  transition  state. 

The  trip  to  Fortress  Monroe  was  a  pleasant  one  and  my  impres 
sion  is  we  camped  upon  the  main  land  some  distance  in  the  rear  of 
the  fort. 

The  measles,  which  had  been  contracted  in  our  old  camp  at 
Bladensburg,  broke  out  with  great  violence  here  and  the  men  of 
the  regiment  will  doubtless  remember  the  general  demoralization 
w^hich  ensued.  The  weather  was  not  very  inclement,  however,  and 
the  change  had  clone  us  good.  I  am  very  sure  we  escaped  what 
would  have  been  a  most  disastrous  epidemic  if  we  had  remained 
about  Washington. 

This  epidemic  of  measles  at  Fortress  Monroe  was  recalled  to  my 
attention  several  years  after  in  a  very  curious  way.  In  the  winter 
after  my  discharge  from  the  army,  late  in  1864  or  early  in  1865,  I 
entered  the  parlor  of  a  private  residence  in  Belief onte.  What 
was  known  as  the  "Rochester  knockings,"  supposed  to  be  inspired 
by  invisible  spirits,  was  then  not  only  the  topic  of  conversation,  but 
of  experiment  in  many  quarters.  When  I  entered  the  parlor,  a 
number  of  young  ladies  were  surrounding  a  table.  Before  very  long, 
apparently  without  any  effort  on  their  part,  except  the  mere  touch 
of  their  fingers,  the  table  began  to  move.  The  inquiry  was  made  in 
the  usual  way  as  to  the  person  with  whom  the  spirit,  supposed  to 
be  present,  washed  to  communicate  and,  after  a  number  of  others 
had  been  named,  when  my  name  was  mentioned,  it  gave  an  affirma 
tive  response.  After  many  questions,  an  affirmative  response  was 
given  to  the  question  "Is  it  one  of  my  old  soldiers?"  and,  after 
numerous  inquiries,  very  specific,  it  was  said  to  be  a  member  of  one 
of  the  companies  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  from  Tioga  County, 


22       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

who  had  died  with  measles  at  Fortress  Monroe.  I  do  not  remem 
ber  distinctly  whether  the  name  was  spelled  out  or  not  and  if  it 
was  I  do  not  think  I  ever  verified  it  by  a  resort  to  the  rolls  of  the 
regiment.  When  the  message,  which  was  being  communicated  to 
me,  had  reached  the  point  "I  leave  my—  '  the  table  was  violently 
agitated,  and — I  suppose  fortunately  for  me — one  of  the  legs  broke 
off,  and  the  communication  was  never  finished.  I  began  to  get  very 
much  frightened,  fearing  that  perhaps  this  old  comrade  was  leaving 
his  wife  and  children  to  my  care.  The  breaking  of  the  leg  of  the 
table,  however,  saved  me,  and  I  never  knew  whether  he  was  agi 
tated  upon  that  subject  or  not. 

You  all  remember  our  pleasant  camp  at  Fortress  Monroe  and  the 
improvement  in  the  health  of  the  regiment.  We  remained  there 
about  two  weeks,  and,  when  we  left,  with  the  exception  of  those 
who  were  left  behind  on  account  of  sickness,  there  was  a  marked 
improvement  in  every  respect. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  1861,  I  wrote  my  mother:  "We  have 
orders  to  move  this  morning;  destination  Port  Royal.  Three  com 
panies  will  go  aboard  the  transport  steamer  Illinois,  the  balance 
of  the  regiment  on  board  the  steamboat  Cosmopolitan.  I  will,  in 
all  probability,  go  with  the  three  companies — A,  B  and  C — on  board 
the  Illinois,  on  which  will  be  embarked  also  the  Seventy-sixth  Penn 
sylvania  Regiment  (Colonel  Powers.) 

"The  paymaster  visited  us  yesterday,  leaving  about  $20,000  with 
the  regiment.  The  greater  part  of  it  is  being  sent  home,  and  very 
little  disposition  is  evinced  by  the  men  to  indulge  in  gambling  and 
drunkenness." 

I  quote  the  latter  part  of  this  extract  from  my  letter  with  great 
pleasure.  It  was  written  at  the  time  with  both  pleasure  and  pride ; 
and  it  may  be  said  now  as  well  as  any  time  that  the  disposition  of 
the  men  of  our  regiment  to  care  for  their  families  and  to  make 
good  use  of  their  money  \vas  characteristic  of  them.  They  were 
good,  substantial  citizens,  for  the  most  part,  alive  to  the  duty  which 
they  owed  to  their  country,  but  not  forgetful  of  what  they  owed  to 
their  families  while  serving  their  country. 

Take  it  all  in  all  this  little  stop  by  the  way  at  Fortress  Monroe 
was  of  great  use  to  the  regiment  in  many  ways.  We  had  time  and 
opportunity  for  good  battalion  drill,  and  the  weather  and  climate 
were  such  that  our  men  recovered  in  a  remarkable  degree  from  the 
measles  and  other  ills  which  afflicted  them  at  the  time. 


Our  First  Year 


CHAPTER  I— SEC.   II 

OUR  FIRST  YEAR 
In  South  Carolina 

We  sailed  under  a  cloudless  sky  and  over  a  waveless  ocean  for 
the  entire  trip,  the  captain  of  the  Cosmopolitan  telling  me  sub 
sequently  that  we  might  go  to  sea  all  our  lives  and  never  have  such 
a  voyage.  Hatteras  was  passed  during  the  night,  but  even  that 
region,  famed  for  its  almost  universal  tempestuousness,  was  quiet 
and  subdued.  The  voyage  from  Fortress  Monroe  to  Port  Royal  was 
practically  without  incident.  When  the  Illinois  attempted  to 
enter  the  harbor,  however,  on  the  loth  of  December,  being  at  low- 
tide  and  the  channel  of  insufficient  depth,  or  because  of  the  ignor 
ance  of  the  pilot,  we  went  aground  on  a  sand  bar,  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  the  tide  causing  a  continual  bumping  of  the  boat  upon  the  bar, 
which  suggested  anything  but  a  pleasant  ending  of  the  experience. 
There  was  not  much  sleep  that  night.  Serious  apprehension  was  in 
all  minds,  and  like  the  vicinity  of  a  battleground  prior  to  the  en 
gagement,  the  surrounding  waters  were  liberally  dotted  with  play 
ing  cards.  However,  when  the  tide  reached  its  flood,  by  the  help 
of  a  tug  or  other  vessel  \ve  were  released  and  entered  the  harbor. 
The  same  day  the  companies  on  the  Illinois  were  transferred  from 
it  to  the  land  by  means  of  a  steamer  of  light  draft — the  Delaware— 
the  Illinois  being  unable  to  approach  the  shore. 

Before  we  landed,  however,  the  regiment  was  ordered  divided, 
and  the  destination  of  the  several  battalions  of  the  regiment  was 
fixed  by  General  Sherman,  in  accordance  with  which  Colonel  Welsh 
and  the  headquarters  of  the  regiment,  with  companies  B,  F,  G,  H 
and  K,  went,  as  designated  by  him,  to  Otter  Island,  a  small  sand 
island  in  St.  Helena  Sound  and  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  North 
Edisto  River;  and  Companies  A,  C,  D,  E  and  I  were  ordered  to 
Bay  Point  to  occupy  Fort  Seward,  formerly  Fort  Beauregard,  which 
commanded  the  north  entrance  to  Port  Royal  Harbor,  and  which 
was  nearly  opposite  Hilton  Head  Island,  on  which  were  the  head 
quarters  of  the  Expeditionary  Corps  commanded  by  General  T.  \Y . 
Sherman,  in  addition  to  the  principal  fortifications. 

Company  C  was  posted  at  a  small  fortification  about  a  mile 
from  Fort  Seward.  The  island  had  been  a  famous  ocean  resort  for 


24       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

southern  people.  Instead,  however,  of  the  fine  attractions  and  ac 
commodations  of  a  northern  summer  resort,  the  accommodations 
for  visitors  were  simply  board  shanties,  as  wye  would  call  them — 
quite  numerous,  but  lacking  in  pretensions  to  style  or  dignified 
proportions.  In  addition  to  the  fortifications  upon  the  island  there 
were  accommodations  in  these  plain  cottages  for  quite  a  colony  of 
colored  people,  several  hundred  of  whom  had  been  gathered  there 
for  sustenance  and  protection. 

My  attention  was  given  to  making  the  men  comfortable,  which 
was  easily  done,  as  the  weather  was  delightful,  and  a  camp  was 
very  easily  pitched.  In  addition  to  the  army  rations,  which  were 
the  usual  ones,  sweet  potatoes  and  oranges  were  plentiful,  and  al 
though  the  latter  were  not  of  present-day  quality,  they  helped  to 
make  some  variety,  and,  with  sweet  potatoes  at  fifty  cents  a  bushel, 
and  native  oysters  to  be  had  for  the  gathering,  although  of  doubt 
ful  quality  (being  at  low  tide  exposed  to  the  sun),  the  men  were 
enabled  to  give  variety  to  their  ration  and  lived  with  more  than 
usual  comfort  and  satisfaction.  The  ocean  beach  was  especially 
fine  and  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  us  all. 

A  few  days  after  our  arrival,  December  I4th,  1861,  William 
Etian  of  Company  A,  died  suddenly,  probably  from  the  excessive 
use  of  oysters  which  appeared  above  tide  and  were,  therefore,  un 
wholesome  and  really  unfit  for  food.  His  sudden  death  and  his 
burial,  which  occurred  on  the  beach  in  the  evening,  made  a  pro 
found  impression  upon  all.  The  chaplain  was  not  with  us  at  this 
time,  but  Etian's  body  was  not  committed  to  its  final  resting  place 
without  a  word  of  prayer,  and  the  funeral  services,  far  from  his 
home  and  friends  and  with  the  peculiar  surroundings,  were  especial 
ly  impressive. 

The  life  was,  of  course,  all  new  to  us.  The  mild  wreather,  our 
ocean  and  bay  fronts,  the  sandy  soil,  the  mode  of  transportation 
by  boat  to  the  headquarters  of  the  army  across  the  bay,  the  pres 
ence  of  apparently  numberless  vessels  of  the  navy  and  those  of  the 
merchant  class  for  the  transportation  of  quartermaster,  commis 
sary  and  ordnance  stores,  with  their  brilliant  lights  at  night,  and 
the  constant  movement  to  and  from  the  headquarters  made  the 
scene  one  of  constant  interest  and  excitement. 

After  the  division  of  the  regiment,  in  order  to  provide  for  the 
proper  care  and  comfort  of  the  men,  the  regular  staff  officers  of 
the  regiment  being  with  Colonel  Welsh  at  the  headquarters  at  Otter 


Our  First  Year 


Island,  I  was  compelled,  as  the  commander  of  the  detachment  at 
Fort  Seward,  to  appoint  a  staff  of  my  own.  Dr.  Christ,  the  as 
sistant  surgeon,  was  assigned  to  me.  Lieut.  James  P.  Gregg,  of 
Company  D,  was  made  acting  quartermaster,  and  Lieut.  George 
D.  Smith,  of  Company  I,  was  appointed  acting  adjutant.  These 
several  officers  were  most  intelligent,  efficient,  and  agreeable,  and 
the  relations  between  the  commander  of  the  detachment  and  his 
staff  were  always  of  a  close  and  friendly  character;  indeed  I  have 
never  known  a  more  intelligent  and  efficient  staff  than  I  had  dur 
ing  our  entire  stay  in  South  Carolina. 

Our  mess  at  Fort  Seward  consisted  of  the  commander  of  the 
detachment,  the  officers  of  Companies  A  and  D  and  these  staff  offi 
cers. 

Our  Christmas  dinner  was  a  very  remarkable  achievement.  I 
have,  in  the  correspondence  with  my  mother  under  date  of  26th  of 
December,  1861,  a  description  of  the  dinner:  "Our  mess,  consist 
ing  of  the  officers  of  two  companies,  the  surgeon,  the  adjutant,  the 
quartermaster,  and  myself,  were  all  home  for  dinner.  We  had 
vegetable  soup  made  from  desiccated  vegetables,  roast  turkey,  rice 
pudding,  apple  pies,  sliced  oranges  sugared,  with  the  usual  amount 
of  substantials.  True  our  tablecloth  was  part  of  an  old  tent  nicely 
washed,  and  our  dinner  service  was  tin ;  yet  I  have  never  enjoyed  a 
Christmas  dinner  more  than  I  did  that  one." 

There  was  no  limit  to  transportation  in  those  days,  and  most 
of  us,  expecting  to  remain  in  the  South,  had  brought  our  Saratoga 
trunks  and  citizen's  clothing.  In  order  to  make  things  as  home 
like  as  possible,  we  doffed  the  uniforms  for  the  occasion,  donned 
our  citizen's  clothes,  and  had  a  very  homelike  entertainment  in  all 
respects. 

After  dinner  the  receipt  of  a  letter  from  Colonel  Welsh  made 
it  necessary  for  me  to  cross  the  bay  to  Hilton  Head.  I  changed  my 
dress  for  my  good  uniform,  had  my  boat's  crew — five  contrabands- 
brought  out,  and  was  rowed  to  the  other  side,  about  three  miles 
distant.  Had  a  nice  little  chat  with  Gen.  Sherman  (T.  W.  not 
W.  T.),  who  was  in  command,  transacted  my  business  at  the  adju 
tant's  office,  and  was  rowed  back  by  not  quite  moonlight,  but  what 
was  nearly  as  good,  bright  starlight.  On  the  return,  my  boat's 
crew  sang,  their  singing  being  a  constant  source  of  wonder  and  en 
joyment  to  us  all. 


26       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Our  camp  of  contrabands  had  a  nightly  meeting,  supposed  to 
be  religious,  which  consisted  very  largely  of  dancing  in  a  circle,  with 
their  hands  on  each  other's  shoulders,  and  singing  or  shouting  with 
growing  feeling  and  excitement,  until  many  of  them  would  drop 
out  exhausted  or  excited  to  the  extent  of  becoming  uncontrollable 
in  feelings  and  physically  rigid. 

At  this  post  our  men  devoted  themselves  to  practice  upon  the 
heavy  guns  of  the  fort,  and  some  of  them  became  quite  expert  in 
managing  the  artillery.  We  were  allowed  to  use  a  certain  amount 
of  powder,  and  the  discharge  of  the  guns  with  blank  cartridges, 
for  a  time  gave  both  amusement  and  variety  to  the  men. 

We  had  settled  down  to  our  new  surroundings  and  position  with 
considerable  satisfaction,  with  the  expectation  of  remaining  for 
some  time.  After  about  three  weeks  an  order  for  a  change  of  camp, 
of  surroundings,  and  of  duties  came  to  us  from  headquarters.  In 
stead  of  being  on  the  north  side  of  the  bay,  opposite  the  headquar 
ters  of  the  army,  we  were  transferred  to  the  western  and  southern 
sides  of  Hilton  Head  Island,  with  the  view  of  picketing  Skull  Creek 
and  Calibogue  Sound.  We  relieved  the  Fifty-fifth  Pennsylvania 
Regiment  and  three  companies  of  the  Seventh  Connecticut,  thus 
making  our  five  companies  do  the  work  which  had  theretofore 
been  performed  by  thirteen.  Our  line  of  pickets  or  outposts  ex 
tended  from  Seabrook  Landing  on  the  north,  which  was  an  im 
portant  point  commanding  not  only  the  Sound,  but  the  rivers  enter 
ing  into  it,  to  Braddocks  Point  on  the  south,  a  distance  of  some 
fifteen  miles,  the  latter  being  opposite  Fort  Pulaski,  the  Savannah 
River  and  Tybee  Island,  and  facing  the  ocean  eastwardly.  Com 
pany  A  was  posted  at  Seabrook,  D  at  Pope's  plantation,  I  at 
Stoney's,  E  at  Spanish  Wells,  and  C  at  Braddocks  Point.  These 
were  the  points  where  a  landing  was  possible,  the  distances  between 
being  for  the  most  part  swampy  and  unsuitable  for  the  landing  of 
troops.  Our  headquarters  were  first  established  at  Seabrook,  but 
by  direction  of  General  Sherman  we  changed  them  to  Graham's 
plantation,  formerly  known  as  "Honeyhorn,"  a  point  somewhat 
inland,  but  central,  and  more  convenient  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
army  at  Hilton  Head.  We  had  a  very  comfortable  house  for 
headquarters,  with  a  flower  garden,  vegetable  garden,  and  fields  of 
sweet  potatoes  and  corn  around  us,  which  had  not  been  removed 
by  the  previous  inhabitants,  so  that  there  was  no  danger  of  a  lack 
of  food. 


Our  First  Year 


Dr.  Christ  was  a  most  excellent  purveyor  for  our  mess,  and 
inasmuch  as  no  one  could  enter  the  fort  without  a  pass  from  our 
headquarters,  he  had  the  pick  of  all  the  marketing  which  went  to 
the  fort,  and  I  doubt  whether  any  mess  in  the  army  lived  more 
comfortably,  not  to  say  luxuriously,  or  had  greater  variety  than 
ours.  I  notice,  in  going  over  my  correspondence,  a  reference  to 
alligator  steaks,  the  identity  of  which  was  not  disclosed  until  we 
had  partaken  of  our  dinner.  The  Doctor  had  evolved  from  his 
own  culinary  instincts  the  manner  in  which  they  were  to  be  cooked. 
The  steaks  were  rolled  in  corn  meal  and  fried,  so  that  the  meat, 
although  somewhat  coarse-grained,  was  sweet  and  pleasant  tasted. 
The  animal  from  which  these  steaks  were  taken  was  seven  and  a 
half  feet  long  and  was  shot  the  day  before  we  dined  upon  him. 
Some  of  the  men  at  Braddocks  Point  became  quite  fond  of  young 
shark's  tails,  and  became  very  expert  in  catching  shark  with  hook 
and  line. 

The  duty  in  caring  for  the  outposts  of  the  army  on  the  island 
was  rather  monotonous,  the  entire  time  which  we  occupied  in  this 
service — nearly  six  months — being  devoid  of  special  incident  or 
adventure,  except  on  two  or  three  occasions. 

I  recall  one  alarm  which  was  brought  by  courier  to  our  head 
quarters  in  the  night,  but  after  having  my  Secesh  pony  saddled 
and  riding  to  the  point  at  which  it  wras  supposed  the  enemy  would 
attack  us,  they  had  evidently  abandoned  their  intention,  having  put 
their  boats  up  and  no  sign  of  an  attack  being  visible  or  audible. 
On  another  occasion,  however,  we  conducted  a  little  expedition  of 
our  own,  crossing  the  sound,  or  the  creek  which  emptied  into  it,  and 
destroying  a  house  occupied  by  the  enemy's  outposts,  known  as  the 
"White  House,"  from  the  upper  windows  of  which  they  were  able 
to  annoy  us  with  their  firing.  We  failed  to  capture  the  pickets,  hav 
ing  driven  them  off  with  some  heavy  siege  artillery  brought  from 
the  fort,  but  found  their  haversacks  and  canteens,  and  destroyed 
the  house,  so  that  thereafter  we  were  spared  that  annoyance.  We 
were  much  complimented  from  headquarters  for  the  gallantry  and 
skill  with  which  this  operation  was  conducted.  Those  of  us  who 
were  in  it  were  rather  amused  at  the  compliment,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  a  very  ordinary  affair.  Both  the  report  and  the  compliment 
sounded  well,  however,  inasmuch  as  very  little  was  being  done  at 
the  time  in  the  department  and  this  seemed  to  indicate  that  "some 
thing  was  doing." 


28       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

On  January  i6th,  1862,  after  an  illness  of  several  weeks,  at 
one  time  considered  somewhat  serious,  Colonel  Welsh  came  down 
to  Hilton  Head  on  the  steamboat  Delaware  to  embark  on  the 
Atlantic  for  home.  I  visited  him  aboard  the  Atlantic  previous 
to  his  sailing  and  went  to  Otter  Island  to  take  command  of  the 
post  there  on  the  2ist  of  January,  remaining  there  until  the  I7th 
of  March,  at  which  time  I  reached  Hilton  Head  at  9  p.  m.,  and 
walked  to  our  headquarters  at  Graham's,  which  were  reached  at 
1 1  p.  m.  There  being  neither  telephone  nor  telegraph  service 
from  Otter  Island,  it  was  impossible  to  notify  headquarters,  and 
therefore  no  transportation  was  furnished  for  a  ride  home  in  the 
evening. 

I  had  a  very  busy  time  at  Otter  Island  and  a  variety  of  ex 
periences.  The  Island  had  never  been  inhabited.  I  found  there 
live  companies  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Regiment,  one  com 
pany  of  the  Third  Rhode  Island — an  artillery  regiment — having 
charge  of  the  fort  on  the  island,  and  a  colony  of  about  three  hun 
dred  colored  people  on  land,  and  on  the  sound  the  sloop  of  war 
Dale,  an  old-fashioned  wooden  vessel  of  the  navy,  commanded 
by  W.  T.  Truxton,  a  most  gallant  officer  and  genial  gentleman, 
with  whom  and  his  officers  we  soon  formed  a  most  pleasant 
acquaintance,  and  with  whom  we  cooperated  in  various  ways  in 
the  most  mutual  helpfulness. 

Supposing  that  the  pos-Kwould  continue  there  for  some  time,  I 
began  at  once  to  make  improvements.  Visiting  Fenwick  Island 
and  other  small  islands,  which  were  nearby,  and  which  had  been 
reconnoitered  to  some  extent  by  the  navy,  I  found  some  deserted 
plantations,  and  immediately  began  to  transfer  the  buildings  from 
that  island  to  our  headquarters,  first  knocking  to  pieces  and  trans 
porting  in  the  shape  of  rafts  a  cotton  house,  which  was  re-erected. 
With  windows  and  flooring  from  the  quartermaster  at  Hilton 
Head,  I  made  a  very  comfortable  hospital,  capable  of  accommo 
dating  sixteen  patients.  We  were  so  successful  with  this  enter 
prise  that  we  began  and  completed  a  store  house  for  commissary's 
and  quartermaster's  supplies  50  x  26  feet,  a  guard  house  for  the 
accommodation  of  our  camp  guards,  and  a  separate  room  for  pris 
oners.  We  also  built  a  blacksmith  shop,  carpenter  shop,  a  stable, 
and  a  wharf  running  out  beyond  low  water,  so  that  vessels  of  light 
draught  could  come  to  the  wharf  to  land  their  supplies.  The  navy 


Our  First  Year  29 


people  also  built  a  comfortable  stable  for  the  Secesh  ponies  which 
they  had  captured  and  used  daily. 

We  also  greatly  improved  the  situation  for  the  colored  people, 
in  recognition  of  which,  before  I  left,  I  was  honored  by  having  a 
namesake  called  Col.  Beaver  Bailey.  I  had  great  satisfaction  sub 
sequently  in  sending  to  the  redoubtable  youngster  a  complete  out 
fit  of  infant  clothing  which  my  mother  was  kind  enough  to  send 
me  for  the  purpose. 

While  at  Otter  Island  a  most  distressing  tragedy  occurred,  result 
ing  in  the  death  of  Captain  Rambo  and  Samuel  A.  Reighard,  both  of 
Company  K.  The  circumstances  under  which  this  occurred  were 
peculiar  and  are  worthy  of  careful  preservation.  I  described  them 
at  the  time  in  a  letter  to  my  mother  as  follows:  "Our  flag  is  at 
half  mast  to-day  and  the  camp  full  of  sadness.  The  remains  of 
Captain  Rambo,  of  Company  K,  and  one  of  his  men  have  just 
left  for  Port  Royal.  Two  days  ago  they  started  with  us  on  an 
expedition,  full  of  life  and  spirits.  Twenty-four  hours  later  their 
bodies  were  returned  in  the  boat,  their  souls  having  gone  to  the 
God  who  gave  them.  As  there  will  be  many  versions  of  the  man 
ner  in  which  they  met  their  death,  I  will  be  somewhat  minute  in 
detailing  the  circumstances.  I  started  on  Wednesday  morning  with 
a  detail  of  members  from  three  companies,  for  the  purpose  of 
reconnoitering  the  banks  of  Mosquito  Creek,  one  bank  of  which 
is  occasionally  occupied  by  rebel  pickets.  We  passed  through  its 
entire  length  during  the  day,  landed  several  times,  but  found 
no  enemy.  At  night  we  stopped  at  the  plantation  of  a  Mr.  Sea- 
brook.  After  consultation  it  was  determined  to  endeavor  to 
capture  a  rebel's  picket  post,  which  was  stationed  at  the  house  of 
a  Mr.  Mattis,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  about  a  mile 
below.  I  directed  Captain  Scheiffelin,  of  Company  H,  to  go  to  the 
rear  of  the  house  with  25  men  and  station  himself  on  the  road 
leading  to  Willtown,  in  order  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  rebels. 
Captain  Rambo  was  to  advance  upon  the  house  from  the  front  at 
a  signal  from  Scheiffelin,  which  was  agreed  upon.  I  went  with 
Captain  Rambo  to  make  the  attack.  After  landing  from  our  boats, 
Captain  Scheiffelin,  with  a  guide,  started  about  twenty  minutes  be 
fore  we  did.  With  another  guide  we  started  by  a  different  road, 
having  thrown  out  two  athletic  fellows  in  front,  who  were  directed 
to  overpower  and  secure  the  sentinel  at  the  door  of  the  house. 
Captain  Scheiffelin  unexpectedly  met  with  a  bridge  on  the  way 


30       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

which  had  been  stripped  of  its  planks.  In  repairing  it  he  was  de 
tained  some  time.  In  the  meantime  I  had  stopped  to  instruct  some 
sentinels,  whom  I  had  placed  at  a  gateway  to  prevent  any  person 
passing.  I  came  up  with  Captain  Rambo's  company  just  in  time 
to  see  the  flashes  of  a  volley  of  musketry,  and  hear  the  bullets 
whistling  by  my  head.  His  men  became  confused  and  disorgan 
ized.  I  rallied  the  company  quickly  and  commenced  giving  the 
commands  myself,  when  I  heard  from  the  other  side  of  the  ditch: 
'Are  you  the  Forty-fifth?'  I  answered  in  the  affirmative,  but  it 
was  too  late.  Captain  Rambo  and  Samuel  A.  Reighard  were  dead, 
both  having  been  shot  through  the  heart.  Two  other  men  were 
wounded  very  badly  and  five  slightly.  Captain  Scheiffelin  says  he 
challenged  the  two  men  who  were  to  go  in  advance  of  our  squad,  but 
receiving  no  answer,  and  seeing  them  turn  back,  supposed  them 
to  be  rebels,  and  ordered  his  men  to  fire.  He  recognized  my 
voice  in  rallying  the  men,  and  therefore  made  the  inquiry  as  to 
our  identity.  I  doubtless  owe  the  preservation  of  my  own  life  to  a 
fall  I  received  in  crossing  a  ditch,  which  detained  me. 

"Colonel  Welsh  has  returned,  looking  much  better  than  I  ex- 
wounded  very  badly  and  five  slightly.  Captain  Scheiffelin  says  he 
will  not  for  some  time  to  come.  I  am  still  commanding,  but  have 
the  colonel  to  consult." 

On  reaching  our  battalion  headquarters,  on  Hilton  Head  Island, 
I  found  that  Major  Kilbourne,  who  had  been  in  command  during 
my  absence,  was  quite  sick.  There  being  no  immediate  necessity 
for  his  remaining,  he  was  granted  forty  days  leave  of  absence,  with 
authority  to  recruit  for  the  regiment,  and  left  on  the  27th  of  March. 

On  the  roth  of  April,  1862,  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Pulaski 
commenced,  and  on  the  following  day  it  surrendered,  with  386 
prisoners.  Whether  by  reason  of  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  or  an 
inkling  of  the  expedition  which  was  then  preparing  for  an  attack 
upon  Charleston,  the  rebels  became  very  active  on  the  mainland 
opposite  our  front.  On  the  2ist  of  April  we  had  an  alarm  at  Sea- 
brook  which  proved  to  be  unfounded.  Taking  a  few  men  and 
boat,  I  went  to  Pinckney  Island,  in  order  to  reconnoiter  the  enemy's 
position  and  determine  more  definitely  as  to  their  intentions.  We 
became  lost  on  the  island,  however,  and  obtained  no  information, 
but  were  rather  confused  than  helped  in  our  estimate  of  what  was 
intended.  We  kept  up  our  activity  in  endeavoring  to  keep  posted  as 
to  what  the  intentions  of  the  enemy  were.  On  the  6th  of  May  I 


Our  First  Year 


visited    Spring   Island   and   shelled   the   rebel   pickets   on   Colleton 
Neck,  but  accomplished  nothing  definite  thereby. 

On  the  7th  of  May  an  order  came  from  General  Benham,  the 
commander  of  the  post  at  Hilton  Head,  directing  me  to  send  Com 
pany  A  to  Otter  Island.  The  officers  and  men  of  the  company  did 
not  wish  to  go,  and  I  did  not  wish  to  lose  them ;  but  the  order  be 
ing  imperative,  I  had  some  correspondence  with  General  Benham 
in  regard  to  the  matter,  which  seemed  to  make  no  impression  upon 
him.  Finally  I  suggested  that  as  Company  A  had  a  member  sick  in 
the  hospital  with  smallpox,  it  would  probably  be  better  to  keep 
the  company  detached  at  Seabrook.  General  Benham  \vas  quite 
indignant  at  my  not  having  suggested  this  at  first,  and  finally  con 
sented  to  allow  me  to  send  Company  I  in  place  of  Company  A  to 
join  the  regiment  at  Otter  Island.  This  occurred  on  Thursday, 
May  8th,  and  because  of  the  loss  of  this  company*  from  the  com 
mand,  Company  B,  of  the  Seventy-sixth  Regiment  Pennsylvania 
Volunteers,  was  sent  to  Seabrook,  relieving  Company  A,  which 
went  to  Stono  Inlet,  Company  D  going  to  Lower  Pope  plantation. 

Captain  Austin  Curtin  arrived  on  the  Qth  of  April  after  a  leave 
of  absence.  Captain  Bigelow,  who  also  had  leave,  returned  on  the 
3d  of  May,  and  Lieutenant  Tyson,  of  Company  A,  was  granted  forty 
days  leave  on  the  I4th  of  the  month. 

On  the  2ist  of  May,  the  headquarters  of  the  regiment  and 
companies  there  posted  left  Otter  Island,  going  to  North  Edisto. 
This  was  preparatory  to  the  advance  on  Charleston. 

On  the  2d  of  June  the  expedition  against  Charleston  sailed  from 
Hilton  Head.  Our  first  news  from  the  expedition  against  Charles 
ton  was  not  "favorable.  Indeed  it  seemed  to  have  been  poorly  man 
aged  from  the  start,  and  was  finally  abandoned  after  considerable 
loss  to  our  troops  in  the  battle  on  James  Island.  That  portion  of 
our  regiment  with  Colonel  Welsh  united  with  the  Seventy-sixth 
Regiment  under  his  command  and  did  creditable  work. 

On  the  loth  of  June  our  pickets  saw  ten  boats  brought  to  the 
"White  House."  We  visited  Pinckney  Island  again  and  spent  the 
night  at  Buckingham  Ferry,  in  expectation  of  an  attack,  but  none 
was  made.  The  next  day  I  went  to  the  Fort  at  Hilton  Head  to 
get  a  gunboat  to  shell  the  "White  House"  on  the  mainlaind,  in 
tending  to  go  around  by  Seabrook  and  down  the  sound,  so  as  to 
come  in  close  contact  with  the  post  located  there.  I  failed  to  get 
the  gunboat,  but  got  some  guns,  which  were  brought  out  to  an  ele- 


32       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

vated  position  opposite  the  "White  House,"  which  gave  us  good 
command  of  it.  We  shelled  it,  and  under  cover  of  the  bombard 
ment  crossed  to  the  main  land  with  a  small  force  and  burned  the 
buildings,  as  heretofore  referred  to. 

On  the  30th  of  June  I  mustered  all  of  our  own  companies  and 
two  companies  of  the  Eighth  Maine,  visiting  each  post  and  inspect 
ing  the  quarters  as  well  as  the  companies.  It  was  a  strenuous  day's 
work,  the  trip  from  Spanish  Wells  to  Braddocks  Point  being 
made  in  a  boat.  The  other  posts  were  visited  on  horseback.  The 
next  day,  July  ist,  I  inspected  another  company  of  the  Eighth 
Maine  on  Pinckney  Island. 

Some  time  after  Colonel  Welsh's  return  from  the  north  we 
both  applied  to  headquarters  for  a  consolidation  of  the  regiment. 
This  was  denied,  however,  on  the  ground  that  we  had  done  such 
good  work  on  the  outposts  with  such  a  small  force,  and  had  such 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  outposts  and  general  situation,  that 
it  was  considered  best  to  keep  us  there.  After  the  failure  of  the 
expedition  against  Charleston  we  received  orders  to  encamp  at 
Elliott's  Plantation,  back  from  the  outposts,  and  between  them 
and  the  fort  at  Hilton  Head.  On  the  9th  of  July  we  went  into 
camp  in  a  pine  woods  on  the  plantation.  On  the  loth  Companies 
B,  F,  G  and  H  arrived,  in  the  midst  of  a  heavy  rain  which  swamped 
part  of  our  camping  grounds.  Company  I  joined  us  the  next  day, 
and  on  Sunday  the  regiment  was  all  together.  On  the  I3th  we 
had  a  dress  parade  of  the  entire  regiment,  which  was,  in  some 
respects,  different  from  anything  I  had  ever  seen  in  the  army. 
Expecting  to  remain  in  the  South  for  some  time,  as  we  had  assur 
ance  that  we  would,  our  officers  had  equipped  themselves  with  full 
dress  uniforms,  and  on  this  occasion  we  appeared  in  the  dress  hat, 
epaulets,  and  the  complete  dress  uniform  of  that  day. 

In  a  few  days  we  received  orders  to  embark  for  Fortress  Mon 
roe,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  regiments  that  had  been  designated 
for  transfer  had  not  returned  from  Charleston,  the  vessels  were 
waiting  for  the  troops,  and  it  was  thought  advisable,  as  a  matter 
of  economy,  not  to  keep  them  unemployed.  Our  regiment  was 
called  upon  to  go.  The  authorities  were  specially  desirous  of  keep 
ing  us  in  the  Department  of  the  South,  as  it  was  then  called.  The 
paymaster  had  visited  us  a  few  days  before,  and  we  were,  of  course, 
financially  in  good  shape  for  the  change.  Indeed  we  were  in  good 
shape  in  every  way,  except  those  companies  which  had  been  in 


Our  First  Year  33 


the  expedition  against  Charleston  being  somewhat  exhausted. 
Those  of  us  who  had  been  on  Hilton  Head  Island  were  in  splendid 
condition.  We  had  very  few  sick  and  had  lost  scarcely  any  of 
our  number.  I  have  a  note  in  my  diary,  under  date  of  Tuesday, 
June  1 7th:  "Gus  Wagner  died  at  general  hospital." 

Our  smallpox  patient  recovered,  having  been  brought  down  to 
our  headquarters,  where  he  could  have  the  direct  and  constant  at 
tention  of  the  surgeon.  We  made  a  hospital  out  of  a  nice,  comfort 
able  room  on  the  second  story  of  a  house  previously  used  for  storing 
corn  and  other  grain.  [Considering  that  there  was  no  more  risk 
in  going  to  see  him  for  me  than  for  the  doctor,  I  made  it  a  habit 
to  go  with  the  doctor  every  day,  observing  the  simple  precaution 
of  going  just  after  mealtime  and  keeping  a  respectful  distance,  so 
as  not  to  come  in  contact  with  the  patient  or  his  bed  clothing.  It 
made  it  a  little  more  cheerful  for  him,  and  gave  me  some  experi 
ence  which  I  thought  it  was  well  to  have.] 

Altogether  our  experience  in  South  Carolina  was  interesting 
and  instructive.  Being  so  near  the  sea  we  did  not  suffer  from 
the  heat,  there  being  a  pleasant  sea  breeze  most  of  the  day.  Al 
though  satisfied  for  many  reasons  to  leave,  expecting,  as  we  real 
ized  later,  that  we  would  be  placed  in  circumstances  where  we  would 
see  much  more  active  service  and  be  brought  nearer  to  our  friends, 
we  were  so  rejoiced  in  having  the  regiment  brought  together,  and 
our  camp  was  assuming  such  a  pleasant  and  satisfactory  condition, 
that  we  would  have  been  well  satisfied  to  remain  for  some  time, 
as  was  the  intention  of  the  authorities  at  headquarters. 

We  embarked  on  board  the  United  States  mail  steamer  Arago 
and  started  about  twelve  o'clock  on  Friday,  July  i8th,  arriving  off 
Fortress  Monroe,  at  10:30  p.  m.,  Sunday,  the  2Oth  of  July  after 
a  pleasant  voyage.  The  next  day  we  went  to  Newport  News  to 
report  to  General  Burnside,  disembarking  and  bivouacing  for  the 
night.  The  next  day  we  went  into  a  regular  camp,  putting  up  our 
tents  in  a  satisfactory  way  in  the  midst  of  a  large  encampment 
composed  of  the  troops  who  had  been  with  General  Burnside 
North  Carolina,  and  others  who  had  preceded  us  from  South 
Carolina. 

An  incident  of  unusual  interest  to  me  was  the  fact  that  during 
our  encampment  at  Newport  News  I  had  frequent  delightful  in 
terviews  with  my  brother,  who  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Fifty-first 


34       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Regiment,  a  privilege  which  I  subsequently  appreciated  more  than 
at  the  time,  for  it  was  the  last  time  I  had  much  intercourse  with 
him,  as  he  was  killed  at  the  Battle  of  Antietam  at  the  crossing  of 
the  bridge,  on  the  left  of  our  line,  when  in  command  of  his  company. 

Our  encampment  at  Newport  News  was  one  of  quiet  and  hard 
work,  in  endeavoring  to  bring  the  regiment  into  shape.  I  was 
especially  happy  in  having  plenty  of  battalion  drills,  which  was  al 
ways  a  delight  to  me,  and  Colonel  Welsh  gave  me  the  most  of  it 
to  do,  inasmuch  as  he  was  bringing  up  the  business  of  the  regiment 
and  getting  the  reports  and  the  office  work  in  shape  after  our  long 
separation.  It  was  during  this  encampment  that  our  surgeon,  Dr. 
George  L.  Potter,  resigned  and  left  the  regiment.  Here  also  Major 
Kilbourne  resigned.  He  had  not  completely  recovered  from  his  ill 
ness  contracted  in  the  South.  The  vacancy  thus  occasioned  was 
immediately  filled  by  the  appointment  of  the  senior  captain,  John 
Irvin  Curtin,  who  subsequently,  successively,  and  most  acceptably 
filled  all  the  highest  positions  in  the  regiment. 

Our  stay  in  this  camp  was  less  than  three  weeks,  arriving  on 
the  2ist  of  July  and  leaving  on  the  4th  of  August.  Our  regiment 
was  embarked  upon  the  steamer  Elm  City,  General  Stevens  and 
his  staff  being  passengers  upon  the  same  vessel.  While  at  New 
port  News  we  got  rid  of  our  extra  baggage,  the  amount  of  which 
was  something  wonderful  for  a  regiment  in  active  service,  and 
came  down  to  what  we  realized  to  be  very  different  conditions  from 
those  which  we  had  enjoyed  in  the  matter  of  transportation,  being 
the  difference  between  steam  and  water  transportation,  and  mules 
on  land.  Our  trip,  however,  was  a  short  one,  as  we  expected,  real 
izing,  as  we  did,  that  we  were  to  become  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  and  that  we  were  simply  organizing  what  afterwards  be 
came  the  Ninth  Corps,  under  the  command  of  General  Burnside. 

We  crossed  Chesapeake  Bay  and  ascended  the  Potomac  River, 
arriving  at  the  mouth  of  Acquia  Creek  on  the  morning  of  the  5th 
of  August.  Our  regiment  was  ordered  to  guard  the  railroad  from 
Acquia  Creek  to  Potomac  Creek.  Colonel  Welsh  was  placed  in 
command  of  the  post  at  Acquia  Creek,  retaining  Companies  I  and 
K  with  him.  The  balance  of  the  regiment  went  to  Brookes  Sta 
tion,  some  six  miles  out  on  the  railroad,  where  we  went  into  camp, 
remaining  about  a  month. 

During  that  time,  however,  in  order  to  avoid  long  marches  in 
relieving  the  guards,  especially  at  Potomac  Creek  bridge,  Com- 


Colonel  John  I.  Curtin 


Our  First  Year  35 


panics  A  and  B,  under  the  command  of  Major  Curtin,  were  moved 
to  that  point  and  went  into  camp.  While  there  encamped  a  very 
interesting  ceremony  occurred;  it  was  the  presentation  of  a  sword 
to  Major  John  Irvin  Curtin  by  Company  A. 

A  brass  plate  upon  the  scabbard  of  the  sword  bore  the  follow 
ing  ^inscription : 

"  'Presented  by  Company  A,  45th  Reg.,  P.  V., 
to  their  former  Captain,  now 

Major  John  Irvin  Curtin, 

as  a  mark  of  respect  and  esteem.' 

'Newport  News,  Va.,  July  3ist,   1862.'" 

The  sword  was  a  beautiful  specimen  of  skill  and  workmanship 
—bronzed  steel  scabbard,  silver  hilt,  and  handsome  gilt  mountings. 

During  this  time  there  was  great  excitement  because  of  the 
disastrous  campaign  under  Pope.  We  were  on  the  extreme  left 
flank  of  the  army,  and  in  riding  out  one  day  I  came  upon  pickets 
only  a  few  miles  from  our  camp  which  I  at  first  took  for  the  enemy, 
and  was  very  much  disconcerted  for  fear  I  might  be  taken  pris 
oner.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  was  taking  a  ride  with  a  young  woman 
in  whose  loyalty  I  had  not  implicit  confidence  and  rather  blamed 
her,  mentally,  with  having  led  me  into  a  trap.  However,  I  boldly 
rode  forward  and  accosted  the  pickets  as  men  of  our  army,  and 
to  my  delight  found  that  they  were.  To  have  turned  about  would 
have  probably  brought  an  uncomfortable  volley  after  us,  notwith 
standing  the  presence  of  a  lady. 

Our  men  were  scattered  along  the  railroad  from  Acquia  Creek 
to  the  bridge  crossing  the  Rappahannock  at  Fredericksburg.  In 
deed  one  of  the  diversions  during  our  encampment  at  Brooks  Sta 
tion  was  a  visit  to  Fredericksburg. 

Pursuing  our  regular  tour  of  guard  duty  in  caring  for  the  rail 
road  from  Acquia  Creek  to  Fredericksburg,  there  came  to  me  a 
proposition,  first  from  citizens  of  Centre  County,  endorsed  by  Gov 
ernor  Curtin,  and  subsequently  by  the  captains  of  what  was  to  be 
known  as  the  "Centre  County  Regiment,"  (although  it  had  not 
been  filled  entirely  from  the  county),  asking  me  to  accept  command 
of  it.  It  was  a  flattering  proposal.  Orders  forbidding  officers  to 
resign  for  the  purpose  of  accepting  higher  rank  in  new  regiments 
were  in  existence.  I  was  much  exercised  by  the  situation  which 
confronted  me.  Having  been  brought  in  practically  immediate  rela 
tions  with  General  Burnside,  by  virtue  of  my  command,  I  called 
upon  him,  and  after  stating  all  the  circumstances,  he  thought  it  was 


36       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

my  duty  to  accept  the  promotion  and  take  command  of  this  new 
regiment.  Of  course  it  required  a  considerable  struggle  to  do  so. 
My  relations  with  the  Forty-fifth  and  the  direct  command  which 
I  had  had  in  connection  with  so  many  of  its  companies,  had  led 
me  to  very  close  and  intimate  friendships  which  I  disliked  to  sever. 
At  the  same  time,  my  acceptance  of  the  offer  gave  opportunity  for 
promotion  for  others,  and  this  was  not  to  be  lightly  disregarded. 
I  finally  sent  to  General  Burnside  my  resignation  and  he  quietly  ac 
cepted  it,  observing  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  report  it 
through  regular  channels,  inasmuch  as  he  had  an  independent  com 
mand  and  had  not  yet  become  actually  identified  officially  \vith 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

My  resignation  was  presented  and  accepted  September  4th, 
1862.  I  left  the  regiment  the  next  day  and,  within  four  days,  was 
in  the  field  with  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty-eighth  Regiment,  thus 
severing  close,  pleasant,  arid  intimate  relations  which  had  made  my 
year  of  service  with  the  Forty-fifth  as  pleasant  as  any  other  year 
of  my  life. 

The  termination  of  my  relations  with  the  regiment  did  not 
terminate  my  interest  in  it,  and  I  was  always  delighted  to  know 
of  its  successes,  which  were  many,  and  of  its  uniformly  gallant  and 
heroic  action  throughout  its  entire  term  of  service,  covering  the 
immense  territory  which  it  traversed,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
which  devolved  upon  it.  Many  of  the  friendships  thus  formed 
have  remained  as  among  the  most  pleasant  and  warmest  of  my  life, 
and  it  wras  a  great  pleasure,  and  privilege  as  well,  to  be  permitted 
to  make  the  address  at  the  dedication  of  the  monument  as  a  me 
morial  of  the  services  of  Pennsylvania  troops  during  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg  and  the  battles  connected  with  it,  erected  in  the  Vicks- 
burg  National  Military  Park,  March  24th,  1906,  by  the  good  old 
Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  study  of  the  journeys  and  campaigns  of  the  regiment,  in 
preparation  for  this  service,  added  to  my  appreciation  of  the  work 
done  and  the  gallantry  of  the  officers  and  men  who  composed  the 
regiment.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  and  am  very  glad  to  say, 
that  if  I  achieved  anything  of  success  from  the  military  point  of 
view  with  my  new  regiment,  which  was  numbered  by  the  Governor 
the  One  Hundred  and  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  it 
was  because  of  the  experience  I  had  gained  with  the  Forty-fifth, 
which  was  the  equal  of  the  best  in  discipline,  soldierly  qualities, 
and  service. 


Sergt.  Eugene  Beauge 
Company  G 


The  Right  Wing  in  South  Carolina  37 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  RIGHT  WING  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA— OTTER 
ISLAND  AND  JAMES  ISLAND 

BY  EUGENE  BEAUGE. 

Otter  Island  in  St.  Helena  Sound  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina, 
where  Companies  B,  F,  G,  H  and  K,  with  Colonel  Welsh  in  com 
mand,  landed  December  nth,  1861,  was  a  barren  sandbar  six  or 
seven  miles  in  circumference.  No  part  of  the  island  was  cultivated, 
and  except  here  and  there  a  group  of  stunted  palmetto  trees  and 
a  few  tufts  of  wild  grass,  nothing  would  grow  there,  any  way.  At 
one  end  of  the  island  was  a  swamp  with  a  lot  of  frogs  and  a  few 
alligators  in  it. 

Quite  an  aggregation  of  negroes  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  were 
on  the  island  when  the  regiment  landed.  They  were  fugitive  slaves 
and  gave  us  a  characteristic,  cordial  welcome.  "Sambo,  where  is 
your  Master?"  asked  one  of  our  officers.  "Dunno,  boss,  to  Charles 
ton,  I  reckon."  "Are  all  the  white  people  gone  away  from  here?" 
"Spec  day  be,  Lord  A'mighty  y'  or  to  seed  'em  run  when  the  Lin- 
cum  gunboats  come;  couldn't  see  deir  coat  tail  f'r  the  dust."  "Ain't 
you  afraid  we  Yankees  will  kill  you?"  "Golly,  no!  We's  been 
spectin'  Massa  Lincunrs  sogers  f'r  a  good  while.  Now  we  is 
so  glad  you  is  come." 

Dancing,  capering  and  singing  as  only  darkies  can,  these  simple 
folks  gave  every  evidence  of  being  glad  to  see  the  Yankees. 

The  coast  between  Port  Royal  and  Charleston  seemed  to  be 
made  up  of  islands  and  islets,  around  and  through  which  wound  in 
eccentric  courses  numerous  rivers  and  creeks. 

These  islands,  however,  were  not  all  barren  by  any  means. 
There  is  probably  no  better  soil  anywhere  in  South  Carolina  than  on 
Fenwick,  Lady's  and  Coosaw  Islands.  They  were  good  places  to 
go  foraging.  It  didn't  take  us  long  to  find  that  out.  Crossing  the 
water  in  row  boats,  details  from  the  different  companies  would  go 
to  one  or  the  other  of  these  islands  one  day  and  come  back  the  next 
with  a  load  of  plunder,  such  as  beef,  mutton,  poultry,  sweet  pota 
toes,  peanuts,  milk,  honey,  canned  fruit,  dishes  and  other  needful 
commodities.  One  day  the  boys  found  a  case  of  long-necked  bottles 


38       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

filled  with  rare  sparkling  wine.  Negroes  frequently  went  along  to 
act  as  guides  and  make  themselves  useful  generally.  Once  our  fel 
lows  tore  down  a  house  on  Fenwick  Island  and  brought  back  a  lot 
of  second  hand  lumber  that  came  in  handy  to  make  floors,  benches, 
tables,  shelves,  etc.,  in  the  tents. 

We  did  a  lot  of  hard  work  on  Otter  Island.  A  wharf,  com 
missary  building,  guard  house  and  hospital  were  built  from  timber 
obtained  on  other  islands  with  no  other  means  of  transportation 
than  row  boats. 

Fort  Drayton,  an  earth  work  (or  sand  work  rather),  partially 
built  by  the  enemy  and  blown  up  by  the  rebels  when  our  gun 
boats  appeared,  had  to  be  repaired  and  finished.  This  task  cost  us 
many  days  of  hard  work,  shoveling  and  wheeling  sand  and  driving 
piles.  When  completed  the  fort  mounted  five  heavy  guns  and  was 
surrounded  by  a  solid  palisade  of  piles  driven  deep  into  the  sand 
with  a  pile-driver  which,  as  we  got  tired  pulling  the  rope  raising 
it,  seemed  to  weigh  at  least  a  ton. 

The  wharf  was  built  on  a  foundation  of  piles  driven  in  the 
same  way.  If  I  remember  right  the  timber  for  the  piles  was  ob 
tained  on  Coosaw  Island.  And  drilling  with  packed  knapsacks  on, 
in  sand  ankle  deep,  was  very  tedious  to  say  the  least.  But  the  old 
colonel  was  inexorable;  and  we  couldn't  fool  him  either. 

At  drill  time  Colonel  Welsh  would  pace  slowly  up  and  down 
the  beach,  his  hands  behind  him,  apparently  paying  no  attention 
to  us.  But  nothing  escaped  his  eagle  eye.  One  day  a  soldier  left 
his  blanket,  the  heaviest  part  of  his  baggage,  in  his  tent  while  out 
drilling.  But  the  leanness  of  his  knapsack  betrayed  him.  "Captain, 
send  that  man  back  to  his  quarters,  have  him  get  his  blanket  and 
see  that  he  drills  an  hour  over-time,"  roared  the  colonel. 

Another,  by  substituting  a  pillow  that  inflated  his  knapsack 
very  nicely,  was  more  successful.  Had  the  trick  been  discovered, 
however,  he  would  have  promenaded  up  and  clown  the  beach  with  a 
load  of  sand  instead  of  feathers. 

The  climate  of  Otter  Island  was  delightful  in  the  winter  time 
and  a  fresh  breeze  from  the  ocean  purified  the  air  and  softened  the 
intense  heat  that  prevailed  during  the  summer  months  in  the  in 
terior  of  the  state. 

Water  was  obtained  by  sinking  barrels  into  the  sand,,  sometimes 
two  or  three  deep,  and  then  it  wasn't  fit  to  drink  except  when  boiled 
or  made  into  coffee. 


The  Right  Wing  in  South  Carolina  39 

Mosquitoes  and  gnats  tormented  us  in  cloudy  weather,  but  our 
worst  enemy  was  that  little  black  rascal,  the  flea.  Fleas  worried 
us  more  or  less  all  the  time,  but  especially  at  night.  It  was  no 
use  trying  to  kill  them.  In  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  when 
you  hit  a  flea  he  isn't  there !  We  never  got  used  to  them.  We 
could  smoke  away  the  gnats,  smash  a  mosquito  and  scald  the  "gray- 
backs,"  but  the  ubiquitous,  elusive  flea — he  was  too  much  for  us. 

And  I  wonder  how  many  of  the  boys  remember  the  big  turtle 
we  got  on  Otter  Island.  He  must  have  weighed  three  hundred 
pounds  and  it  was  no  trick  at  all  for  him  to  carry  two  or  three  of 
us  on  his  broad  back.  And  what  a  lot  of  fine  soup  he  made  for 
us  on  the  last  analysis! 

The  sloop  of  war  "Dale"  carrying  twelve  guns  was  anchored 
off  Otter  Island  on  our  arrival  there.  Her  crew  were  a  lot  of  jolly, 
manly  tars,  and  as  the  ship  remained  near  us  during  our  stay  on 
the  island  the  soldiers  and  sailors,  isolated  as  they  were  from  the 
rest  of  mankind,  naturally  cultivated  each  other's  society,  and  the 
result  was  that  the  boys  of  the  Forty-fifth  and  the  Jack  Tars  on  the 
"Dale"  were  the  best  of  friends. 

On  the  2ist  of  May,  1862,  we  left  Otter  Island  on  the  steamer 
"Potomac,"  and  were  glad  to  get  away.  Life  on  the  island  had 
become  dull  and  monotonous.  We  wanted  more  excitement.  Like 
all  green  soldiers  we  ached  for  a  fight.  And  Colonel  Welsh  had 
promised  to  march  us  through  the  streets  of  Charleston  to  the  tune 
of  Yankee  Doodle  by  the  middle  of  June  or  not  later  than  the 
Fourth  of  July!  The  colonel  was  mistaken.  It  took  the  Union 
Army  two  years  and  nine  months  from  that  time  to  carry  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  to  Charleston. 

Next  day  our  battalion  of  six  companies — Company  I  having 
joined  us  from  Bay  Point — landed  on  North  Edisto  Island,  about 
thirty  miles  from  Charleston. 

A  considerable  body  of  troops  had  rendezvoused  at  this  place 
preparatory  to  an  aggressive  movement  against  Charleston. 

On  the  28th  Company  G  put  out  to  sea  again  on  the  steamer 
"Honduras"  and  went  back  to  Otter  Island.  But  not  to  stay  this 
time.  We  dismounted  the  five  guns  on  Fort  Drayton,  buried  them 
deep  in  the  sand  inside  the  fort  and  for  aught  we  know  they  are 
there  yet.  Then,  taking  the  stores  and  ammunition  remaining  on  the 
island  with  us,  we  steamed  back  to  Port  Royal,  and  from  there  on  the 


40       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

transport  "May  Flower"  to  Edisto  again,  where  we  arrived  on  the 
first  day  of  June. 

Instead  of  going  ashore,  however,  we  stayed  on  the  boat  till 
about  nine  o'clock  that  night  and  landed  across  the  river  on  John's 
Island.  From  12,000  to  15,000  Union  troops  were  already  in  pos 
session. 

Monday  morning,  June  2d,  we  are  not  likely  to  forget :  It  was 
hot  and  sultry.  By  9  a.  m.,  our  little  army  was  in  motion.  A 
thick  fog  that  had  settled  over  the  country  during  the  night  soon 
disappeared  and  the  rays  of  a  tropical  sun  had  a  fair  chance  at  us. 
We  had  no  water.  Holes  were  dug  in  the  sand  from  which  we 
filled  our  canteens  with  a  semi-liquid  mixture  that  seemed  but  to 
increase  our  thirst.  The  broiling  sun  absorbed  every  bit  of  mois 
ture  in  our  throats.  Speaking  for  myself  I  can't  begin  to  describe 
what  I  suffered  from  thirst  that  day. 

To  encourage  the  men  Colonel  Welsh  got  off  his  horse  and 
wading  through  the  sand,  kept  alongside  the  soldiers  and  by  pleas 
ant  jesting  remarks  helped  to  make  us  forget  the  heat  and  our 
troubles.  About  noon  or  a  little  after,  we  came  to  a  well  on  a 
large  plantation.  The  water  had  to  be  drawn  up  by  a  rope  and 
bucket,  and  you  can  imagine  what  a  scramble  there  was!  I  man 
aged  to  get  a  cupful  before  they  had  drunk  the  well  dry,  which 
was  done  in  short  order! 

Marching  a  few  miles  further  we  camped  for  the  night  and  the 
next  day  being  rainy  we  did  not  move.  Night  came  on  and  still 
it  rained.  We  had  no  tents.  The  wind  began  to  blow  about  nine 
o'clock  and  kept  on  blowing  harder  and  harder.  We  had  to  wind 
our  blankets  around  us  to  keep  them  from  blowing  away.  It  rained 
hard  all  night  and  towards  morning  the  air  got  chilly;  and  there, 
wrapped  in  single  blankets  with  a  cartridge  box  or  a  ridge  in  the 
cotton  field  for  a  pillow,  we  passed  the  night. 

Morning  came  and  still  it  rained.  But  we  had  orders  to  move. 
The  roads  were  a  mixture  of  mud  and  water  that,  as  we  marched, 
filled  our  shoes  and  galled  our  feet  wretchedly.  At  noon  it  still 
rained  harder  if  anything  than  before.  Our  clothes  were  soaked 
through  and  the  rations  in  our  haversacks  reduced  to  pulp.  Noth 
ing  was  dry  but  our  powder.  The  cartridge  boxes  were  water 
proof.  Towards  night  the  rain,  having  lasted  thirty-six  hours, 
abated,  and  the  sky  was  clear  again. 


The  Right  Wing  in  South  Carolina  41 

At  the  farther  side  of  the  island  we  came  to  a  small  town  called 
Legreesville  on  Stono  River.  Here  we  halted  and  made  ourselves 
comfortable  in  some  vacant  houses. 

About  this  time  Colonel  Welsh  took  command  of  a  brigade, 
which  included  our  regiment,  and  Captain  H.  A.  Haines  of  Com 
pany  B  being  the  ranking  officer  present,  took  charge  of  the  bat 
talion  of  the  Forty-fifth.  Two  or  three  of  our  gunboats  mean 
while  were  shelling  James  Island  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
General  Stevens  with  a  brigade  of  infantry  having  effected  a  land 
ing  and  driven  the  Rebels  into  their  fortifications  at  a  small  place 
called  Secessionville,  on  the  east  side  of  the  island  and  within 
three  or  four  miles  of  Charleston. 

Our  regiment  crossed  the  Stono  River  to  James  Island,  Monday 
evening,  June  Qth,  on  the  steamer  "Mattano."  Having  landed  we 
marched  about  half  a  mile  and  camped  in  a  field  of  beans  that  made 
pretty  good  bedding.  The  enemy  seemed  to  know  our  location  and 
pretty  soon  shells  began  to  drop  around  us  or  explode  over  our 
heads.  This  was  our  first  experience  under  fire,  and  I  suspect  that 
we  did  some  lively  dodging  to  avoid  the  shells.  Colonel  Welsh, 
walking  leisurely  up  and  down,  didn't  seem  to  mind  it.  "Sit  still, 
boys;  they  won't  hurt  you;  don't  a  man  dodge  till  a  shell  hits  his 
head!"  he  said  to  us,  passing  along  to  encourage- the  next  company. 
It  seemed  to  me,  though,  that  if  we  had  any  dodging  to  do  we 
had  better  attend  to  it  before  one  of  those  shrieking  monsters  came 
in  contact  with  our  craniums ! 

A  detachment  from  Companies  H  and  I  was  sent  out  on  picket 
some  distance  towards  Secessionville  where  the  enemy  was  known 
to  be  intrenched.  Next  morning,  June  loth,  reinforced  by  a  com 
pany  from  another  regiment,  the  pickets  concealed  themselves  in 
a  piece  of  woods  near  the  road.  The  enemy  soon  located  their  po 
sition  and  shelled  the  woods,  but  besides  making  a  deal  of  a  racket 
and  scattering  limbs  of  trees  and  pieces  of  shells  here  and  there, 
did  no  harm. 

Our  gunboats  in  Stono  River  opened  fire  and  a  brisk  cannonade 
was  the  result.  The  shells  from  the  gunboats  passed  directly  over 
our  camp  and  apparently  but  a  few  feet  above  our  heads,  that  is, 
it  seemed  that  way  to  us,  judging  from  the  sound  they  made. 

About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  Confederate  force,  ap 
parently  a  full  regiment,  made  a  fierce  attack  on  our  pickets, 
der  ordinary  conditions  the  Rebels  ought  to  have  gobbled  or  de- 


42       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

stroyed  our  little  band  of  less  than  two  hundred  men,  but  they  did 
no  such  thing.  In  the  first  place,  with  their  Harpers  Ferry  muskets, 
which  carried  a  large  ball  and  three  buckshots,  and  at  close  range 
were  murderous  weapons,  our  boys,  keeping  close  to  the  ground, 
were  more  than  a  match  for  five  times  their  own  number  march 
ing  against  them  in  line  of  battle. 

The  boys  worked  their  guns  for  all  they  were  worth,  loading 
and  firing  "at  will"  as  fast  as  they  could  go  through  the  motions; 
yet  trying  to  make  every  shot  count.  "We  fired  about  twenty-five 
rounds  and  completely  routed  them,"  one  of  the  comrades  said  in 
describing  the  engagement.  But  they  soon  rallied  and  came  back 
with  reinforcements;  three  regiments  this  time,  led  by  the  Forty- 
seventh  Georgia. 

The  Rebel  officers  exposed  themselves  recklessly.  "Come  en, 
boys,"  one  of  their  captains  said,  as  he  stepped  in  front  of  his  men 
swinging  his  sword,  "A  Yankee  bullet  was  never  run  for  me!"- 
and  then  fell  in  a  heap  mortally  wounded.  Another  captain  used 
different  tactics:  "Here  are  your  own  men;  don't  fire  on  your 
own  men,"  he  was  heard  to  say  repeatedly  as  he  advanced,  leading 
his  company  through  the  thick  brush  that  partially  concealed  their 
movements.  But  the  trick  didn't  work  that  time.  A  well  directed 
shot  killed  the  Rebel  officer  and  put  an  end  to  that  sort  of  thing. 

But  they  kept  on  coming  just  the  same.  The  ammunition  was 
getting  low;  it  was  an  anxious  moment  for  our  hard  pressed,  thin 
line.  Fortunately,  however,  in  the  nick  of  time,  the  Seventy-sixth 
Pennsylvania  Infantry  and  a  couple  of  batteries  of  artillery  —Sher 
man's  and  the  Third  Rhode  Island — came  to  the  rescue,  and  the 
result  was  no  longer  doubtful.  Grape  and  canister  from  the  artil 
lery  and  the  fire  of  the  infantry  finished  up  the  job,  and  the  fight 
ing  was  over.  The  Rebels  went  back  to  their  works  at  Secession- 
ville  faster  than  they  had  come  out,  leaving  many  of  their  dead 
behind  them.  One  hundred  killed  and  wounded  would  be  a  con 
servative  estimate  of  the  enemy's  loss.  In  fact  nearly  that  number 
were  found  upon  the  field,  including  a  colonel  of  infantry,  killed. 

Our  loss  was  15  killed  and  wounded.  The  Forty-fifth  lost  one 
man  killed;  Thomas  Jobe  of  Company  H.  That  may  seem  like  a 
big  difference  between  the  enemy's  loss  and  our  own.  But  being 
the  aggressors  the  Confederates  naturally  suffered  most,  and  we 
being  drilled  to  load  and  fire  lying  down  or  keeping  close  to  the 


The  Right  Wing  in  South  Carolina  43 

ground  saved  us  many  lives  not  only  on  James  Island  but  in  many 
other  skirmishes  and  battles  during  the  war. 

When  the  first  scattering  shots  of  the  engagement  were  heard, 
we,  that  is  the  other  companies  of  our  battalion  not  on  the  firing 
line,  were  getting  ready  for  an  early  supper,  each  one  brewing  his 
own  coffee  in  a  tincup.  I  had  my  cup  of  steaming  coffee  in  one 
hand  and  a  hard  tack  in  the  other  when  the  rattle  of  musketry  and 
the  hurry  order,  "fall  in!"  startled  me  and  spoiled  my  supper.  It 
was  no  time  to  eat  or  drink,  so  down  went  the  coffee  and  hard  tack. 
I  suppose  others  did  the  same  thing.  As  the  firing  increased  to  a 
regular  fusillade,  we  dropped  everything  and  jumped  for  our  mus 
kets,  stacked  close  by,  and  took  our  places  in  the  ranks. 

Captain  Haines  in  command  of  the  battalion  marched  us  at  a 
double-quick  towards  the  front.  The  firing  ceased,  however,  be 
fore  we  reached  the  scene  of  the  conflict,  and  .a  messenger  came 
galloping  back  to  announce  the  victory. 

When  our  boys,  having  been  relieved  at  the  front  by  Com 
panies  B  and  K,  came  in  with  their  faces  and  hands  dirty  and  be 
grimed  with  powder  smoke,  we  had  to  cheer  them,  shake  hands  all 
around,  and  "make  a  fuss."  They  had  reason  to  be  proud  of  this, 
their  first  skirmish.  They  fought  like  veterans.  Not  a  man 
flinched. 

Comrade  Sylvester  Houghton  of  Company  I,  one  of  the  detail 
on  the  picket  line,  and  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  information  as 
to  what  occurred  at  the  front,  says  that  about  forty  men  from  each 
of  the  two  companies  (H  and  I),  were  on  the  firing  line.  Lieu 
tenant  E.  G.  Howard  was  in  command  of  the  Company  H  boys, 
while  First  Sergeant  Samuel  Haynes  had  charge  of  the  detail  from 
Company  I,  all  under  command  of  Captain  F.  M.  Hills  of  Com 
pany  I. 

The  condensed  account  I  have  tried  to  give  of  this,  our  first 
set-to  with  the  enemy,  is  mostly  unwritten  history,  the  affair  being 
one  of  those  minor  engagements  of  the  Civil  War  which  the  aver 
age  historian  passes  lightly  over,  or  maybe  doesn't  notice  at  all, 
yet  in  which,  as  likely  as  not,  more  heroism  was  displayed  than  in 
many  of  the  big  battles  when  the  sound  of  the  bugle  and  the  drum, 
and  the  excitement  of  the  conflict  made  it  easy  for  men  to  be  brave, 
and  to  die — if  need  be! 

After  this  brush  with  the  "Johnnies"  it  was  deemed  important 
to  make  our  tenure  of  James  Island  more  secure.  So  the  men  were 
set  to  digging  rifle  pits  and  building  breast  works.  That  sort  of 


44       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

thing  is  hard  work  anyhow,  let  alone  doing  it  under  a  tropical  sun 
in  the  middle  of  June  with  the  mercury  among  the  hundreds.  To 
make  things  still  more  uncomfortable,  we  had  no  water  fit  to  drink, 
and  mosquitoes — big,  lusty  fellows — pestered  us  all  the  time,  espe 
cially  at  night  while  on  picket. 

Many  of  the  men  were  soon  on  the  sick  list,  wrhich  as  we  had 
a  certain  amount  of  work  to  do,  made  it  all  the  harder  for  those 
not  excused  by  the  doctor.  When  in  camp,  "sick  call"  sounded 
every  morning  at  eight  o'clock.  "Come  git  yer  quinine — come  git 
yer  quinine!"  The  call  sounded  exactly  like  that  to  us  because  wre 
knew  what  it  meant. 

The  medical  staff  was  an  important  branch  of  the  military  serv 
ice.  The  surgeon  of  a  regiment  and  his  assistants,  to  a  certain  ex 
tent,  had  the  health  and  w^ell  being  of  a  thousand  men,  more  or 
less,  in  their  keeping.  Dr.  George  L.  Potter  was  surgeon  of  the 
Forty-fifth  during  the  first  year  of  our  service.  We  all  remember 
Dr.  Potter;  light  haired,  ruddy  faced,  jovial  Dr.  Potter,  as  he  sat 
on  a  camp  stool  in  the  door  of  his  marquee,  presiding  over  the 
destinies  of  the  sick  and  near-sick,  who  in  two  ranks  waited  pa 
tiently  for  their  medicine,  and  incidentally  to  be  excused  from  duty 
—perhaps.  And  of  scarcely  less  importance  was  gentlemanly, 
genial  Hospital  Steward  Whitside  G.  Hunter,  sitting  at  a  table 
just  inside  the  tent  ready  to  deal  out  the  doctor's  prescriptions, 
mostly  quinine  and  castor  oil.  It  was  a  rare  ailment  indeed  that 
didn't  call  for  quinine  powders  or  liberal  doses  of  castor  oil,  the 
latter  to  be  taken  on  the  spot.  Some  of  us  still  hate  the  taste  and 
smell  of  the  blamed  stuff — both  quinine  and  castor  oil. 

The  magic  letters  "Ex"  placed  by  the  doctor  opposite  a  patient's 
name  meant  that  he  was  excused  from  duty  for  that  day.  "L.  D." 
meant  light  duty.  Nothing  at  all  after  the  name  meant  that  the 
"candidate"  must  bear  his  share  of  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day 
—unless  the  captain  interceded  and  let  him  off  easy. 

Monday  morning,  June  i6th,  a  considerable  force  of  Union 
troops  under  General  Benham  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
storm  the  Confederate  works  at  Secessionville.  We  were  not  in 
that.  Our  battalion  had  been  on  picket  the  night  before  and  was 
held  in  reserve  within  plain  hearing  of  the  conflict,  however,  in 
which  our  comrades  of  the  One  Hundredth  Pennsylvania  (Round 
Heads),  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York  (Highlanders)  and  the 
Eighth  Michigan,  were  badly  cut  up.  These  regiments — and  splen- 


The  Right  lying  in  South  Carolina  4; 

did  regiments  they  were — were  in  close  touch  with  the  Forty-fifth 
most  of  the  time  during1  the  war. 

From  our  advance  posts  on  James  Island,  by  climbing  trees,  we 
could  see  Fort  Sumter  and  beyond  that  the  steeples  and  prominent 
buildings  of  Charleston  itself.  Only  a  few  miles  to  the  city,  but 
a  mighty  hard  road  to  travel  for  men  who  wore  the  Blue  in  those 
days ! 

During  the  latter  part  of  June  our  forces  began  to  evacuate 
James  Island.  The  Forty-fifth  must  have  been  rear  guard,  and 
the  last  troops  to  leave  the  place.  Wednesday,  July  2d,  we  got 
aboard  the  transport  "Ben  DeFord"  and  steamed  back  to  Port 
Royal,  where  our  six  companies  landed  and  went  into  camp.  On 
the  Qth  of  July  we  marched  some  two  or  three  miles  to  pass  in  re 
view  before  General  Williams.  Our  line  of  march  was  all  the  way 
through  fine,  loose  sand  three  or  four  inches  deep,  which,  as  we 
plodded  wearily  along,  arose  in  clouds  and  nearly  smothered  us; 
and  although  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon — after  four  o'clock — the 
heat  was  something  fierce. 

Out  of  four  hundred  men  in  our  six  companies  one  hundred  or 
more  dropped  out  before  the  short  march  wTas  over;  genuine  cases 
of  heat  prostration  everyone. 

On  the  nth  of  June  we  made  a  happy  change  of  location.  March 
ing  about  five  miles  we  went  into  camp  on  the  southern  bank  of 
Broad  River  in  a  grove  of  thrifty  young  pines,  which,  if  they  did 
not  change  the  atmosphere,  at  least  kept  the  sun  off  from  us.  The 
place  was  called  Elliott's  Plantation.  It  was  here  that  the  left  wing 
(so  called)  of  the  regiment,  from  which  we  had  been  separated  since 
the  December  previous,  joined  us.  You  can  imagine  whether  we 
had  a  happy  reunion  or  not! 

Lieut.  Colonel  Beaver,  I  should  have  said,  was  with  us  part  of 
the  time  on  Otter  Island  while  Welsh  was  absent  on  leave.  Beaver 
was  a  fine  officer  and  a  courtly  gentleman.  It  was  like  pulling  teeth 
to  have  him  leave  us  permanently,  as  he  did,  to  take  command  of 
the  One  Hundred  Forty-eighth,  a  couple  of  months  later. 

July  1 7th  orders  came  to  load  our  baggage  on  the  transport 
"Mayflower."  We  were  about  to  move  again  and  for  once  the 
seal  of  secrecy  was  broken.  We  were  going  North !  And  nothing 
could  have  suited  us  better  than  to  leave  the  far  South  at  that  time. 
The  tropical  climate,  mild  and  delightful  in  winter,  had  grown 
torrid  and  sickly  in  midsummer,  especially  as  we  got  away  from 


46       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

the  sea.  And  one  gets  tired  of  sand  hills,  salt  water,  alligators, 
mosquitoes  and  fleas  that  were  so  much  in  evidence  down  there. 
But  where  the  shoe  pinched  the  hardest  was  that  for  more  than 
seven  months  very  few  of  us,  who  spent  most  of  our  time  on  Otter 
and  James  Islands,  had  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  a  white  woman ! 

To  avoid  the  extreme  heat  of  daylight  our  march  of  five  miles 
to  the  landing  at  Port  Royal  was  made  between  eight  and  eleven 
o'clock  that  night.  By  noon  next  day  we  were  on  board  the  United 
States  mail  steamer  "Arago."  At  thirty  minutes  past  twelve 
o'clock,  July  1 8th,  1862,  the  whistle  blew,  our  vessel  weighed  anchor, 
and  amid  cheers,  the  waving  of  flags,  handkerchiefs  and  caps,  and 
with  martial  music  we  bid  good-bye  to  South  Carolina! 

The  "Arago"  which  before  the  war  journeyed  between  the  coast 
of  France  and  New  York,  was  a  staunch,  commodious  vessel,  and 
her  commander,  Captain  Gadsden  was  a  very  pleasant  gentleman. 
Soldiers  on  board  ships,  however,  had  a  few  luxuries  of  first  class 
passengers.  We  were  packed  in  almost  like  so  many  cattle.  At 
night  the  floors  of  both  decks,  the  tops  of  bales  and  boxes  and  every 
nook  and  corner  were  covered  with  sleeping  men. 

Striking  boldly  out  into  the  Atlantic  we  soon  lost  sight  of  land. 
The  sea  was  rough  part  of  the  way  and  many  of  us  had  occasion 
to  lean  over  the  railing  and  "heave  up  Jonah."  The  second  day  as 
we  rounded  Cape  Hatteras,  the  ocean  was  in  especially  bad  humor, 
tossing  our  vessel  this  way  and  that,  until  locomotion  on  deck  was 
difficult  if  not  dangerous  for  us  "land  lubbers." 

On  the  whole,  however,  we  enjoyed  the  journey  and  arrived  at 
Fortress  Monroe  about  noon,  July  2Oth.  Our  destination  proved 
to  be  Newport  News  at  the  mouth  of  James  River,  a  few  miles  from 
Fortress  Monroe.  But  that  is  another  story. 


William  A.  Roberts 
Company  K 


Edward  Roberts 
Company  F 


THE  ROBERTS  BROTHERS 

By  \V.  A.  ROBKRTS 

I  enlisted  August  i)th,  1802,  in  Columbia,  Pa., 
for  "three  years  or  during  the  war,''  and  was 
assigned  to  Company  K,  Forty-fifth  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry.  The  regiment 
was  then  stationed  at  Acquia  Creek,  Va.,  on  the 
Potomac  River.  About  August  1st,  1802,  a  re 
cruiting  office  was  opened  in  Columbia  by  Cap 
tain  Ilaines,  Company  K.  of  Maytown,  Pa.,  and 
Lieutenant  Charles  Koch,  Company  K,  of  York, 
Pa.,  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  men  for  the 
above-named  regiment.  Quite  a  number  of  re 
cruits  from  Columbia  and  the  surrounding  towns 
enrolled  their  names  to  serve  in  Companies  B 
and  K.  In  a  few  days  we  were  sent  to  Camp 
Curt  in,  Ilarrisburg.  Pa.,  mustered  into  service, 
and  then  transported  to  Washington,  D.  C.,  in 
"Pullman"  cattle  cars,  with  improvised  seats, 
and  thence  to  Aci(iiiu  Creek  by  boat,  where  we 
arrived  in  due  time.  The  new  men  were  daily 
put  through  the  drill,  by  squads,  in  order  to 
become  proficient  in  the  manual  of  arms,  etc., 
to  compete  with  the  remainder  of  the  regiment. 

A  younger  brother,  Albert,  aged  fifteen  years, 
enlisted  in  1801,  and  served  as  drummer  in  Com 
pany  K  until  the  close  of  the  war,  having  re- 
enlisted.  When  the  regiment  was  granted  thirty 
days'  veteran  furlough  in  January,  1804,  another 
brother  i  Edward)  enlisted,  at  the  age  of  four 
teen,  and  served  as  drummer  in  Company  F, 
making  three  brothers  in  the  regiment.  He  also 
served  until  the  war  ended.  The  brothers  are 
all  living  at  this  writing. 


Albert  Roberts,  Co.  K 
Drummer 


The  Maryland  Campaign 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN 

BY  W.  A.  ROBERTS. 

On  September  6th,  1862,  the  regiment  left  Acquia  Creek,  Va. 
After  burning  the  provisions  and  stores  that  could  not  be  removed, 
to  prevent  them  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  it  em 
barked  on  a  boat  for  Washington,  arriving  there  the  same  day.  A 
detail  was  made  from  the  different  companies  to  unload  the  boats 
during  the  night,  so  we  got  very  little  rest.  Next  morning  (Sun 
day)  we  were  ordered  to  move,  marching  about  five  miles  and 
camping  in  the  afternoon.  Before  starting  orders  were  given  to 
leave  all  surplus  baggage  with  the  quartermaster  and  retain  only 
what  was  necessary  for  a  forced  march  and  an  active  campaign, 
consisting  of  half  a  shelter  tent,  blanket,  canteen,  haversack,  car 
tridge  box  and  musket.  (When  fully  equipped  our  baggage 
weighed  from  50  to  60  pounds  to  a  man.)  After  a  short  rest  the 
regiment  was  ordered  to  march  and  proceeded  eight  miles  further 
and  camped  in  an  orchard  where  we  remained  until  evening,  when 
we  took  up  the  line  of  march  to  a  regular  camp  and  bivouacked  for 
the  night.  Tuesday  we  marched  to  Brookville,  Md.,  a  distance  of 
12  miles,  where  we  arrived  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
Owing  to  the  rapid  marching,  we  got  away  from  the  provision  train 
and  rations  becoming  short  it  became  necessary  to  do  some  forag 
ing.  The  boys  made  raids  on  cornfields,  orchards,  potato  patches, 
etc.,  but  not  having  time  to  prepare  the  food  properly  the  result 
was  most  disastrous.  For  instance,  an  ear  of  green  corn  with  a 
sharp  stick  run  through  it,  would  be  held  over  a  quick  fire,  burned 
on  the  outside  and  raw  within,  with  no  seasoning,  and  eaten  while 
on  the  march.  One  can  imagine  the  effect  of  such  food  on  an 
empty  stomach.  The  weather  was  very  warm,  the  roads  dusty, 
and  water  scarce.  Such  was  our  first  experience  on  the  march  from 
Washington,  D.  C,  to  Frederick,  Md. 

By  the  time  the  regiment  reached  Frederick  quite  a  number 
were  unfit  for  duty  and  many  went  into  the  battle  of  South  Moun 
tain  in  such  a  weak  condition  that  they  could  scarcely  march,  but 
nevertheless  stuck  to  their  posts.  The  regiment  reached  Frederick 
on  Saturday  evening,  September  I3th.  We  were  ordered  to  have 
everything  in  readiness  to  meet  the  enemy.  Next  day,  while  the 
church  bells  were  ringing  and  several  of  the  boys  had  passes  to 


48       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

attend  divine  services,  and  were  brushing  up  for  the  occasion,  the 
"fall  in"  call  was  sounded,  and  instead  of  attending  church  were 
ordered  into  line.  After  proceeding  about  five  miles  we  came  within 
range  of  the  artillery  fire  of  the  enemy,  the  shells  exploding  over 
us,  and  grape  and  canister  came  hurtling  through  the  trees,  in  some 
instances  almost  destroying  them.  The  regiment  was  under  fire 
about  five  hours,  during  which  time  our  artillery  was  not  idle.  The 
Ninth  Corps  was  in  the  advance  and  reached  Turner's  Gap  about 
four  o'clock.  A  and  K,  the  two  flanking  companies  of  the  Forty- 
fifth,  were  ordered  on  the  skirmish  line  and  soon  opened  fire  on 
the  enemy,  who  were  stationed  behind  a  stone  fence,  in  return  re 
ceiving  their  fire.  Here  we  recruits  received  our  baptism  of  fire, 
a  little  over  a  month  from  the  time  of  our  enlistment.  Soon  the 
engagement  became  general  and  the  musketry  fire  on  both  sides 
was  terrific.  Our  regiment  charged  and  drove  the  enemy  from 
behind  the  stone  fence,  capturing  over  a  hundred  prisoners.  The 
prisoners  said  that  our  fire  was  so  terrific  that  it  was  almost  sure 
death  for  a  man  to  put  his  head  above  the  stone  fence.  Eight  com 
panies  of  the  regiment  were  armed  with  Harpers  Ferry  muskets 
and  the  two  flanking  companies,  A  and  K,  with  Springfield  rifles. 
The  muskets  had  been  altered  from  flint  locks  to  percussion  caps, 
and  the  cartridges  contained  a  ball  and  three  buckshot.  Their  fire 
was  most  deadly.  The  boys  said  they  killed  at  both  ends.  In  this 
engagement  the  regiment  lost  27  men  killed,  and  107  wounded, 
some  of  them  mortally.  The  total  loss  to  our  troops  was  about 
1,500  men,  of  whom  over  300  were  killed.  Among  the  latter  was 
the  gallant  General  Reno. 

Night  put  an  end  to  the  strife.  Next  day  we  buried  our  dead. 
It  was  indeed  a  sad  sight.  Some  comrades,  including  the  writer, 
visited  the  lines  where  the  Confederates  stood  the  day  before.  The 
ground  was  strewn  with  their  dead.  Many  of  the  poor  fellows  had 
been  pierced  with  two  or  three  bullets.  It  was  a  sickening  sight 
to  see  them  lying  there  just  as  they  had  fallen  and  my  heart  went 
out  in  sympathy  for  them  and  the  dear  ones  they  had  left  behind. 
We  turned  away  with  horror,  thankful  that  we  had  been  more  for 
tunate  than  they  in  escaping  the  dangers  of  the  battle. 

It  was  intended  to  renew  the  battle  in  the  morning,  but  General 
Lee  withdrew  his  forces  under  cover  of  the  night,  leaving  his  dead 
unburied.  On  the  i6th  the  Confederate  Army  was  well  posted  on 
the  heights  near  Sharpsburg,  on  the  western  side  of  Antietam  Creek, 
and  on  the  clay  following  the  battle  of  Antietam  was  fought,  in 


The  Maryland  Campaign 


49 


which  our  regiment  took  part.  As  we  had  stood  the  brunt  of  the 
battle  at  South  Mountain,  the  Forty-fifth  was  held  in  reserve  at 
Antietam. 

While  awaiting  orders  to  advance,  General  Wilcox  rode  up 
and  inquired:  "What  regiment  is  that?"  Some  one  answered: 
"The  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania."  He  replied :  "Ah,  I  can  rely  on 
those  boys;  you  will  be  held  in  reserve  to-day,  but  if  called  upon  I 
know  that  you  will  perform  your  duty  as  well  as  you  did  at  South 
Mountain,"  or  words  to  that  effect. 

Shortly  afterward  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  advance,  cross 
ing  the  Burnside  Bridge,  where  the  Fifty-first  Pennsylvania,  com 
manded  by  Colonel  Hartranft;  the  Fifty-first  New  York,  com 
manded  by  Colonel  Potter:  the  Twenty-first  Massachusetts  and 
Second  Maryland  regiments  met  with  such  dreadful  slaughter  a 
short  time  before.  The  Ninth  New  York  regiment  (Colonel 
Hawkins'  Zouaves)  in  full  Zouave  uniform,  charged  over  the  plowed 
field  and  received  a  terrific  fire  from  the  enemy's  artillery,  during 
which  several  of  their  men  fell.  After  the  charge  we  were  ordered 
to  halt  in  a  ravine.  While  resting  there  a  few  moments  a  large 
shell  exploded  over  our  lines,  a  piece  burying  itself  in  the  ground 
between  my  comrade  on  the  right  and  myself. 

While  halting  in  this  ravine  a  soldier  came  running  down  to 
our  lines  and  said  there  was  a  member  of  Company  I,  Forty-fifth, 
badly  wounded  and  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire,  and  asked  for  some 
one  to  volunteer  to  go  to  his  assistance.  The  writer  accompanied 
him  to  where  he  was  lying  and  found  him  so  badly  wounded  that 
he  did  not  wish  to  be  disturbed.  He  said:  "Let  me  lie  here:  I  am 
mortally  wounded."  His  name  was  John  Kirkpatrick.  He  was 
shot  in  the  abdomen  and  died  a  few  hours  later  in  the  field  hos 
pital  at  Antietam. 

Our  army  had  a  decided  advantage  over  the  Confederates  at 
Antietam,  and  had  it  been  promptly  followed  up,  no  doubt  a  large 
portion  would  have  been  captured,  as  they  were  in  a  demoralized 
condition,  with  supplies  and  ammunition  nearly  exhausted. 

The  Union  losses  in  this  battle  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing, 
were  about  12,500.  General  McClellan  estimated  the  rebel  losses 
to  be  much  greater. 

We  slept  on  the  battlefield.  Next  morning,  the  i8th,  a  portion 
of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  was  detailed  to  relieve  the  pickets,  the 
writer  among  the  number.  They  were  stationed  along  a  fence  on 
the  edge  of  the  cornfield,  and  as  our  squad  advanced  to  relieve  them 


50       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

received  a  volley  of  musketry  from  Confederate  sharpshooters  oc 
cupying  a  stone  mill,  just  across  the  cornfield.  Their  bullets  cut 
the  grass  all  around  us  but  never  struck  a  man.  [That  old  stone 
mill  is  still  standing,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  it  a  few  years 
ago  while  on  a  trip  to  the  National  Cemetery  at  Antietam.  An 
illustration  of  the  mill  appears  elsewhere  in  the  history.]  While 
on  the  picket  line  our  sharpshooters  kept  up  a  constant  fire  over  our 
heads  and  one  of  their  bullets  struck  the  ground  a  few  feet  in  the 
rear  and  bounded  over  on  my  right  leg,  but  did  no  injury. 

After  Lee's  army  had  been  defeated  and  driven  out  of  Mary 
land  the  Ninth  Corps  went  into  camp  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Md., 
where  we  had  a  much-needed  rest  after  our  hard  campaign.  The 
following  extracts  from  a  letter  written  home  from  Pleasant  Val 
ley,  under  date  of  "Camp  Israel,"  Saturday,  October  25th,  1862, 
will  no  doubt  be  interesting  to  the  reader: 

"We  are  now  in  camp  and  there  is  not  much  of  importance  to 
write.  We  passed  through  a  hard  campaign  the  past  month  and 
are  taking  a  much-needed  rest,  although  the  regular  routine  of 
duty  is  gone  through  with  daily,  in  the  drill,  guard  mount,  guard 
duty,  dress  parade,  police  duty,  etc.  Shortly  after  going  into  camp 
the  baggage  which  had  been  left  in  Washington  when  we  started 
for  Frederick  came  to  us,  and  the  knapsacks  had  been  robbed  of 
their  contents.  Mine  contained  a  new  overcoat,  blanket,  pair  of 
pantaloons,  underwear,  portfolio  containing  writing  paper  and 
postage  stamps,  together  with  little  tokens  of  remembrance  from 
the  dear  ones  at  home.  What  the  boys  said  upon  discovering  their 
losses  would  not  do  to  put  in  a  Sunday  school  lesson,  and  they  had 
good  cause  for  so  expressing  themselves.  There  is  always  a  lot 
of  skulkers  and  robbers  in  the  rear  of  the  army  who  never  intended 
to  do  anything  but  rob,  and  who  never  get  into  battle.  Every  soldier 
is  allowed  clothing  to  the  amount  of  $42  per  annum,  and  in  case 
of  loss,  even  though  no  fault  of  his,  is  obliged  to  draw  a  new 
outfit,  and  the  amount  deducted  from  his  salary,  which  is  $13.00 
a  month  in  greenbacks,  while  gold  is  at  a  premium  of  $2.80  on  the 
dollar.  The  Government  also  allows  each  man  forty  cents  a  day 
for  rations,  over  half  of  the  time  we  are  situated  so  that  we  can 
not  get  the  rations  and  consequently  have  to  forage  and  sometimes 

pay  double  for  what  we  purchase,  provided  we  cannot  confiscate  it. 

*     *     * 

"Orders  have  just  been  received  stating  that  the  army  will  cross 
the  Potomac  into  Virginia  to-morrow,  the  26th." 


The  Forty-Fifth  at  South  Mountain 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FORTY-FIFTH  AT  SOUTH  MOUNTAIN 

EUGENE  BEAUGE 

It  was  nine  o'clock  Sunday  morning  September  I4th,  1862.  A 
thick  fog  which  had  settled  over  the  Catoctin  Valley  during  the 
night  had  disappeared;  we  had  finished  our  breakfast  of  roasted 
corn,  crackers  and  coffee ;  the  drum  rolled  and  we  fell  in  line  ready 
to  move.  Considerable  artillery  firing  had  been  going  on  since  day 
break.  The  battle  of  South  Mountain  had  begun.  Our  column 
was  set  in  motion  and  we  w^ere  soon  winding  our  way  slowly  up 
the  hill.  The  sharp  report  of  a  cannon  is  heard  on  top  of  the  hill, 
and  a  shell  comes  tearing  down  screeching  through  the  air.  Others 
followed  in  quick  succession.  The  enemy  on  top  of  the  mountain 
(part  of  Lee's  army  under  D.  H.  Hill  stationed  there  to  keep  Mc- 
Clellan  in  check  while  the  Rebels  under  Stonewall  Jackson  were 
capturing  Harpers  Ferry),  could  discern  all  our  movements  and 
were  making  it  as  hot  as  they  could  for  us.  We  pushed  steadily 
on  and  presently  took  a  by-path  that  diverged  to  the  left  from  the 
turnpike,  and  continued  on  over  the  rough  ground  and  wooded  hill 
until  we  came  to  a  clearing  where  the  column  formed  line  of  battle 
near  an  old  log  house,  the  right  of  the  line  of  the  Forty-fifth  rest 
ing  on  the  road.  It  must  have  been  then  not  far  from  eleven  o'clock. 
The  Rebels  were  pelting  us  with  grape  and  canister  and  it  was  only 
by  lying  down  that  we  avoided  serious  punishment.  Between  us 
and  the  enemy  was  a  cornfield  on  a  side  hill;  then  a  piece  of  thin 
woods  and,  as  we  found  out  later  on,  an  open  space  beyond  the 
timber. 

Having  formed  line  of  battle,  orders  were  given  to  unsling 
knapsacks  which  were  piled  up  and  a  man  from  each  company  de 
tailed  to  guard  them.  Thick  and  fast  came  the  grape  and  canister 
with  a  swish  down  the  road  and  diagonally  into  the  field  tearing 
up  the  turf  all  about  us.  Several  pieces  of  artillery  were  advanced 
up  the  hill  for  the  purpose,  I  suppose,  of  silencing  the  Rebel  bat 
tery  that  was  making  all  this  fuss.  Hardly  had  the  guns  unlim- 
bered,  however,  when  a  volley  of  musketry  and  a  dose  of  grape  and 
canister  sent  guns,  gunners,  caissons  and  horses  pell  mell  back 
down  the  road.  It  looked  for  a  few  minutes  as  though  a  panic 


52       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

would  ensue.  But  Colonel  Welsh,  who  although  in  command  of 
a  brigade,  was  in  the  front  line  with  his  own  regiment,  by  a  few 
cool  assuring  words  soon  allayed  whatever  excitement  might  have 
prevailed  among  the  men.  Order  \vas  restored  and  the  exciting 
incident  passed  off  without  serious  trouble. 

For  several  hours  during  the  forepart  of  the  afternoon  the  con 
flict  was  continued  by  the  artillery  alone.  Meanwhile  reenforce- 
ments  were  coming  up  and  our  line  was  being  formed  for  the  as 
sault.  At  four  o'clock  all  had  become  ominously  silent  all  along 
the  line.  Not  a  gun  was  heard.  The  two  giants  were  taking  breath 
for  the  final  tussle.  Surgeons  with  their  knives,  saws,  probes  and 
bandages  had  taken  position  close  by  for  their  bloody  work.  A 
mounted  officer  came  dashing  up  and  spoke  a  few  hurried  wrords  to 
Colonel  Welsh  and  passed  on  to  the  left.  Orders  were  communi 
cated  to  regimental  commanders  and  then  came  the  long  expected 
order,  "Attention,  battalion  !  Shoulder  arms.  Forward,  guide  center, 
March!"  The  whole  line  advanced.  Companies  A  and  K  being 
thrown  out  as  skirmishers;  the  line  of  battle  swiftly  and  silently  fol 
lowed  them  up  through  the  cornfield. 

Major  John  I.  Curtin,  in  command  of  the  regiment,  it  seems 
intended  going  into  the  fight  on  horseback.  His  horse,  however, 
a  spirited  animal,  either  through  fear  or  pure  cussedness,  refused  to 
jump  the  low  stone  wall  over  into  the  cornfield.  The  regiment  was 
pressing  steadily  on,  leaving  the  gallant  major  behind.  That  would 
never  do.  Dismounting  he  dropped  the  reins  over  the  animal's 
neck  and  letting  his  steed  go  galloping  riderless  back  to  the  rear 
Curtin  hurried  on  after  the  Forty-fifth  and  soon  caught  up  with  it. 
Had  the  brute  obeyed  his  master  that  day  and  carried  him  into  that 
tempest  of  lead  and  iron  the  chances  are  that  neither  horse  nor 
rider  would  have  come  out  alive. 

It  must  have  been  some  twenty  rods  through  the  cornfield. 
When  about  half  way  across  scattering  shots  were  heard  from  the 
front  and  minie  balls  began  to  zip  through  the  air  from  that  di 
rection.  Our  skirmishers  had  reached  the  timber  and  found  the 
enemy.  The  firing  gradually  increased  and  our  line  pressed  rapidly 
forward,  the  Rebel  skirmishers  slowly  falling  back,  firing  as  they 
retreated.  As  our  line  emerged  from  the  cornfield,  climbing  over  a 
rail  fence  into  the  woods,  the  Johnnies  were  seen  scaling  the  fence 
on  the  farther  side  of  the  timber.  At  this  point  a  battery  of  the 
enemy  located  on  a  spur  of  the  mountain  to  our  right  proceeded  to 


The  Forty-Fifth  at  South  Mountain 


throw  shells  into  the  woods.  These  missiles  made  sad  havoc  among 
the  tree-tops  scattering  limbs  in  all  directions  or  plowing  ugly  fur 
rows  in  the  ground  in  dangerous  proximity  to  our  line.  Welsh  and 
Curtin  were  both  at  the  front  and  seemed  as  cool  as  if  on  parade. 
By  their  example  and  soothing  words  such  as  " Steady,  boys,  keep 
cool !"  they  did  much  to  allay  the  nervousness  of  the  men  on  the 
firing  line.  During  this  momentary  halt  some  of  the  boys  seeing  a 
few  Rebels  climbing  over  the  fence  beyond  the  woods  fired  on 
them.  Others  followed  suit  until  nearly  the  whole  regiment  had 
fired  a  volley.  This,  of  course,  was  imprudent  as  it  told  the  Rebel 
artillery  just  where  our  line  was  advancing  through  the  woods. 
Our  officers  were  yelling  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  "Cease  firing!" 
One  of  our  boys  who  was  an  old  hunter  and  a  good  shot  (Andrew 

Bockus  of  Company  G),  muttered  to  himself,  "Don't  care  a  d n! 

I  saw  a  Johnny!"  It  was  from  15  to  20  rods  through  the  woods, 
beyond  which  was  a  rail  fence  pretty  well  demolished  by  the  Rebels 
climbing  over  it. 

Presently  the  order  was  given  by  Welsh  and  quickly  repeated 
by  Curtin,  "Forward  to  the  fence!"  It  didn't  take  long  to  get 
there.  On  reaching  the  edge  of  the  clearing  the  enemy's  line  of 
battle  was  discovered  in  a  lane  between  two  stone  fences  something 
like  80  yards  across  an  open  field.  The  Rebels  were  kneeling  be 
hind  the  wall  nearest  to  our  line,  their  own  line  running  parallel 
or  nearly  so  to  ours.  Only  their  gun  barrels  and  the  tops  of  their 
heads  were  visible. 

The  rail  fence,  or  what  was  left  of  it,  afforded  some  protection, 
but  the  enemy  behind  their  solid  wall  still  had  an  immense  advan 
tage.  It  was  here  that  we  sustained  our  heaviest  loss.  We  found 
out  afterwards,  however,  that  the  Rebels  lost  more  men  on  that 
part  of  the  line  than  we  did,  most  of  the  Confederate  dead  or 
wounded  being  shot  in  the  head,  which  was  about  the  only  part 
of  their  anatomy  in  sight  above  the  stone  wall.  Meanwhile  the 
enemy  had  a  raking  fire  with  their  batteries  on  that  part  of  the 
field.  Trees  and  fence  rails  were  shivered  to  pieces  by  shells  and 
grape  and  canister  coming  from  the  front  or  at  right  oblique.  All 
this  time  the  battle  was  raging  furiously  along  the  two  or  three 
miles  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  lines.  Reports  of  cannon, 
bursting  shells  and  musketry  blended  together  in  one  continuous, 
deafening  roar.  Clouds  of  white-blue  smoke  hung  over  the  field 
like  a  thick  fog,  and  the  air  was  stifling  with  the  smell  of  gun- 


54       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

powder.  I  suppose  we  noticed  these  things  particularly  that  day 
because  South  Mountain  was  our  first  pitched  battle  and  naturally 
made  more  of  an  impression  on  our  minds  that  the  bigger  and 
more  important  battles  we  were  in  later  on  after  we  got  used  to 
that  sort  of  thing. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock  the  One  Hundredth  Pennsylvania, 
or  "Round  Heads,"  as  we  called  them,  came  to  the  support  of  the 
Forty-fifth  on  the  firing  line.  But  the  enemy's  fire  had  slackened 
by  that  time  and  presently  ceased  altogether  in  our  front.  The 
Johnnies  were  ready  to  quit.  Many  of  them  were  shot  down  while 
climbing  the  stone  wall  in  their  rear  trying  to  get  away.  Our  line 
of  battle  advancing  at  once  captured  a  lot  of  prisoners,  about  150, 
Colonel  Welsh  says  in  his  official  report.  It  was  then  about  six 
o'clock.  There  was  more  or  less  firing  in  other  parts  of  the  line 
as  late  as  nine  o'clock  that  night,  but  the  battle  in  our  front  was 
over  and  as  the  sun  went  clown  that  Sunday  evening  the  woods 
and  rocks  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  we  had  wron  echoed  and  re 
echoed  with  the  cheers  of  the  victors  of  South  Mountain. 

A  decided  victory  had  been  won  over  the  veterans  of  Lee's 
army;  but  we  paid  dearly  for  it. 

The  Forty-fifth  lost  136  officers  and  men — 21  killed  and  115 
wounded,  many  of  whom  died  shortly  after.  Lieutenant  George 
P.  Grove  of  Company  A  was  mortally  wounded  and  died  six  days 
later.  Conspicuous  among  the  killed  from  the  writer's  own  county 
were  Lieutenants  George  Dwight  Smith  and  James  M.  Cole  of 
Company  I,  both  excellent  soldiers.  The  fact  that  Colonel  Welsh 
on  assuming  the  duties  of  brigade  commander,  from  among  a  score 
of  officers  selected  Lieutenant  Smith  to  fill  the  most  important  po 
sition  on  his  staff — that  of  his  assistant  adjutant  general — is  suffi 
cient  evidence  of  his  abilities  as  a  soldier.  The  writer  may  be  par 
doned  for  referring  to  the  death  of  three  of  his  own  Company,  (G). 
Henry  Fenton,  a  giant  in  strength  and  fearless  as  a  lion,  was  shot 
through  the  heart ;  George  Brewster,  good  natured  and  portly,  writh 
whom  I  chatted  that  morning,  seated  on  his  knapsack  nibbling 
away  at  an  ear  of  roasted  corn,  died  bravely  in  the  front  rank  of 
battle;  Jacob  Squires  was  shot  through  the  head  after  the  battle 
was  practically  over  and  died  without  a  struggle. 

Next  morning  we  buried  our  dead.  In  a  trench  a  little  above 
the  old  log  house  referred  to,  wrapped  in  their  blankets  we  laid 
them  tenderly  away  at  the  front  of  the  hill  they  had  helped  to  make 


The  Forty -Fifth  at  South  Mountain  55 

immortal!  The  enemy's  dead  were  also  left  for  us  to  bury.  The 
poor  fellows  lay  where  they  fell,  singly  or  piled  up  one  across  the 
other.  We  were  surprised  to  find  so  many  of  them,  especially  be 
tween  the  two  stone  walls  where  the  ground  in  that  narrow  roadway 
or  lane  was  literally  covered  with  dead  bodies.  Some  of  the  severe 
ly  wounded  had  also  been  left  behind  for  us  to  look  after. 

Our  Harpers  Ferry  muskets  with  a  good  sized  ball  and  three 
buckshot,  at  short  range,  had  done  fearful  execution. 

No  member  of  the  Forty-fifth  need  blush  for  having  been  at 
South  Mountain.  Every  man  did  his  duty.  Burnside,  and  General 
Wilcox,  our  division  commander,  complimented  Colonel  Welsh 
very  highly  on  the  conduct  of  his  old  regiment  at  South  Mountain. 

Colonel  Welsh  himself  in  his  report  of  the  battle  says :  "My 
officers  and  men  were  enthusiastic  and  brave.  Where  all  are  so 
meritorious  it  would  be  unjust  to  designate  individuals.  I  will  only 
add  that  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  of  my  brigade  and  the  Seven 
teenth  Michigan  of  the  first  brigade  sustained  the  brunt  of  the 
battle  with  a  bravery  and  constancy  seldom  equalled  in  modern 
warfare." 

Even  McClellan,  \vho  had  no  love  for  the  Ninth  Corps,  in  his 
book,  "McClellan's  Own  Story,"  page  578,  goes  out  of  his  way  to 
mention  favorably  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  and  the  Forty-fifth 
Pennsylvania  in  his  report  of  the  battle  of  South  Mountain.  The 
Seventeenth  Michigan,  the  boys  will  remember,  was  a  new  regi 
ment  that  fought  on  our  right  and  covered  themselves  with  glory, 
the  men  exposing  themselves  recklessly.  Their  loss  in  killed  and 
wounded  that  day  was  132 — only  four  less  than  the  casualities  in 
the  Forty-fifth.  There  were  three  regiments  in  the  Second  Bri 
gade,  the  Forty-fifth  and  One  Hundredth  Pennsylvania  and  the 
Forty-sixth  New  York.  Official  reports  show  that  the  One  Hun 
dredth  Pennsylvania,  or  "Round  Heads,"  lost  45  in  killed  and 
wounded,  while  the  casualties  of  the  Forty-sixth  New  York  were 
only  nine  killed  or  wounded.  Compare  these  figures  with  the  casual 
ties  of  our  regiment  and  it  will  readily  appear  that  Colonel  Welsh 
was  not  mistaken  when  he  said  that  of  the  three  regiments  in  his 
brigade  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  bore  the  brunt  of  the  battle  on 
that  portion  of  the  line.  Even  then  we  didn't  get  all  the  credit  that 
belonged  to  us. 

The  Correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  in  one  case  at 
least  in  his  report  of  the  battle,  inadvertantly  or  otherwise,  substi- 


56       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

tuted  the  Forty-fifth  New  York  for  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania, 
giving  the  New  Yorkers  credit  that  belonged  to  us.  The  story  goes 
that  Colonel  Welsh  met  the  reporter  a  couple  of  clays  later  and 
kicked  him  out  of  camp.  We  may  well  believe  it,  or  that  he  gave 
the  reckless  quill-driver  a  tongue  lashing  that  must  have  hurt  worse 
than  a  kick. 

Captain  E.  G.  Scheiffelin  of  Company  H,  was  promoted  to 
major  of  the  regiment  immediately  after  the  battle.  Second  Lieu 
tenant  R.  G.  Richards  of  Company  G,  who  commanded  the  com 
pany  at  South  Mountain  was  promoted  to  captain  the  same  day.  It 
was  understood  that  both  of  the  promotions  were  made  for  meritori 
ous  conduct  on  the  battlefield.  However,  Captain  Scheiffelin  re 
signed  before  his  commission  as  major  was  delivered.  • 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  General  Curtin,  Captain  Chase  of 
Company  I,  Lieutenant  Davies  of  Company  G,  and  several  com 
rades  of  Companies  G  and  I  for  valuable  information  and  pointers 
about  South  Mountain,  where  we  lost  more  men  killed  or  mortally 
wounded  than  in  any  other  battle  we  were  in.  Not  excepting  the 
Wilderness  and  Cold  Harbor >  where  the  Forty-fifth  won  additional 
renown  as  one  of  the  "Three  Hundred  Fighting  Regiments"  in  the 
Union  Army.  This  list  or  roll  of  honor,  according  to  Colonel  Fox, 
in  his  book,  "Regimental  Losses,"  the  best  authority  we  have  on 
military  statistics,  includes  every  regiment  in  the  Union  Army  that 
lost  more  than  130  men,  killed  or  mortally  wounded. 

The  aggregate  loss  of  the  Forty-fifth  according  to  the  same  au 
thority  was  227  killed  or  mortally  wounded  during  the  war.  So 
we  are  not  at  the  tail  end  of  the  list  of  the  Fighting  Three  Hun 
dred  by  any  means. 

On  the  contrary,  in  a  preferred  list  of  45  regiments,  which  in 
cludes  "every  infantry  regiment  in  the  Union  Army  that  lost  over 
200  men,  killed  or  mortally  wounded  in  action  during  the  war," 
the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  is  number  18  from  the  top,  and  first 
on  the  list  in  the  Ninth  Corps. 


South  Mountain,  Md. 


SOUTH  MOUNTAIN,  MD. 

Except  as  to  the  woods  and  timber  this  picture  shows  the  local 
ity  of  the  fiercely  contested  Battle  of  South  Mountain  just  as  it  was 
on  Sunday  evening,  September  I4th,  1862.  The  stone  walls  on  the 
right  and  left  of  the  "Old  Sharpsburg  Road,"  and  at  the  edge  of 
the  woods  is  where  the  Confederates  made  their  stand,  and  in  dis 
lodging  them  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  had  28  men  killed  out 
right  and  15  subsequently  died  of  their  wounds. 

The  corner  of  the  log  house,  known  as  the  "Wise  House," 
shows  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  picture,  and  under  the  tree  near 
the  house  was  the  well  in  which  68  Rebels  were  buried  by  Mr.  Wise, 
who  was  paid  a  dollar  apiece  to  bury  the  dead  Confederates  killed 
behind  the  stone  walls. 

The  picture  was  taken  from  the  corner  of  the  Reno  statue. 


58       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


ANTIETAM  NATIONAL  CEMETERY,  SHARPS- 
BURG,  MARYLAND 

This  picture  shows  a  portion  of  the  "Pennsylvania  Section"  in 
which  are  buried  the  Pennsylvania  soldiers,  in  number  more  than 
600,  killed  at  South  Mountain,  September  I4th,  and  at  Antietam, 
September  i/th,  1862,  and  of  those  wounded  who  died  subsequently 
in  the  hospitals  at  Hagerstown,  Frederick  and  Middletown. 

The  third  row  from  the  outside  flag  on  the  left  and  the  out 
side  flag  on  the  right,  inclusive,  are  the  remains  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry  who  were  killed 
at  South  Mountain,  Sunday,  September  I4th,  1862. 

Beginning  on  the  left  with  grave  numbered 

3870  Amos  Walton,  Co.  B  3883  Unknown 

3871  William  Hunter,  Co.  D  3884  Unknown 

3872  Robert  Kerr,  Co.  C  3885  Unknown 

3873  James  Baird,  Co.  C  3886  Unknown 

3874  Thomas  Parsons,  Co.  C       3887  Unknown 

3875  Frank  Wagner,  Co.  B  3888  Henry  Chambers,  Co.  K 

3876  Jacob  Squires,  Co.  G  3889  Unknown 

3877  John  N.  Hotchkiss,  Co.  H  3890  George  English,  Co.  I 

3878  James  Hurd,  Co.  F  3891   Unknown 

3879  Henry  Fenton,  Co.  G  3892  James  McCann,  Co.  K 

3880  Unknown  3893  Jacob  Keplar,  Co.  K 

3881  J.  H.  Glenn,  Co.  A  3894  James  R.  Tremain,  Co.  H 

3882  Jacob  Campbell,  Co.  A  3895  Aaron  Burr,  Co.  H 

The  "Unknown"  are  those  whose  caps  showed  them  of  the 
"45th  Pa.,"  but  whose  names  and  company  were  not  indicated. 

In  scattered  graves  in  the  Pennsylvania  Section  are : 

3585  Aaron  Benson,  Co.  H  3936  George  L.  Bartlett,  Co.  G 

3725  Philip  B.  Spotts,  Co.  B        4032  David  Lightner,  Co.  E 
3818  John  D.  Chronister,  Co.  E  4079  James  Fields,  Co.  C 
3901   Hiram  Wilcox,  Co.  G  4J39  Reuben  Yarnell,  Co.  A 

3914  John  Ulrich,  Co.  E  4T4O  Lieut.  W.  P.  Grove,  Co.  A 

4142  Noah  C.  Morton,  Co.  I 


National  Cemetery,  Sharpsburg,  Maryland  59 

Taken  from  Tablet  No.  64.     Tablet  facing  west  from  orchard: 

U.-S.  S. 

Welsh's  Brigade,  Wilcox's  Division. 
Colonel  Thomas  Welsh,  45th  Pennsylvania  Infantry, 

Commanding  Organization : 

8th  Michigan  Infantry,  46th  New  York  Infantry, 

45th  and  looth  Pennsylvania  Infantry. 

September  I7th,  1862. 

On  the  morning  of  the  i7th,  Welsh's  Brigade  was  in  reserve 
on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  ridge,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Antietam, 
nearly  opposite  the  Burnside  Bridge.  About  2  P.  M.,  after  Sturges' 
Division  had  carried  the  bridge,  the  Brigade  crossed  and  follow 
ing  the  road  to  Sharpsburg,  about  250  yards,  formed  line  west  of 
the  road,  gradually  crossing  to  the  east,  until  its  right  was  near 
this  point  (1,000  yards  from  the  bridge),  its  center  in  the  ravine 
and  at  the  stone  mill  and  its  left  in  the  apple  orchard  beyond,  when 
the  attack  of  A.  P.  Hill  on  the  left  flank  of  the  corps  compelled  it 
to  withdraw  to  the  banks  of  the  Antietam,  where  it  remained  until 
the  evening  of  the  i8th. 


60       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  FORTY-FIFTH  IN  KENTUCKY  AND  MISSISSIPPI. 

BY  EUGENE  BEAUGE. 

Forty-seven  years  is  a  good  while  to  remember.  In  trying  to  tell 
the  story  of  our  experience  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi,  as  I  saw 
and  understood  it  from  the  ranks  as  a  private  of  Company  G,  I 
shall  depend  mostly  on  my  diary  and  some  letters  I  sent  from  the 
front  to  the  Wellsboro  Agitator  while  the  events  referred  to  were 
fresh  in  my  mind. 

To  begin  with  a  brief  reference  to  our  movements  from  the 
time  we  left  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  go  west  will  jog  the  com 
rades'  memories  and  may  be  interesting  to  their  children  and  grand 
children  who  care  enough  about  this  to  read  it. 

Tuesday  afternoon,  February  loth,  1863,  we  left  our  camp 
opposite  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  marched  about  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  to  Falmouth  Station  and  took  the  cars  from  there  to  Acquia 
Creek.  Here  we  got  aboard  the  transport  "John  A.  Warner,"  and 
early  next  morning  started  down  the  Potomac,  and  after  an  inter 
esting  voyage  by  way  of  Hampton  Roads,  the  Forty-fifth  landed  at 
Newport  News  about  noon,  February  I3th.  In  the  afternoon  we 
marched  about  a  mile  and  a  half  and  pitched  our  tents  on  the  banks 
of  the  James  river,  near  the  old  camp  ground,  the  same  that  we  had 
occupied  when  the  regiment  came  from  South  Carolina  in  July, 
1862. 

Later  on  we  built  huts  of  split  pine  slabs  log-house  fashion. 
These  8x12  shanties  with  shelter  tents  for  roofing  made  very  com 
fortable  quarters,  easily  the  best  we  had  enjoyed  up  to  that  time. 
Some  pleasant  memories  are  connected  with  our  stay  at  Newport 
News,  although  they  kept  us  hustling  from  morning  till  night.  Our 
daily  program  being  something  like  this:  Reveille  six  o'clock; 
police  6:30;  breakfast  7:00;  guard  mounting  8:00;  company  drill 
8:30  to  9:30;  battalion  drill  10:30  to  11:30;  dinner  12:00;  com 
pany  drill  i  :oo  to  2:00;  battalion  drill  3:00  to  4:00;  dress  parade 
5  :oo ;  tattoo  8 :3O ;  taps  9  :oo.  And,  of  course,  it  took  considerable 
time  to  clean  and  polish  up  for  inspection,  which,  in  one  sense,  oc 
curred  every  clay  on  dress  parade  besides  the  regular  inspection 
Sunday  morning. 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  61 

It  was  at  Newport  News  that  we  learned  to  go  througfh  the 
manual  of  arms  to  the  tap  of  the  drums.  As  I  remember  it  now 
the  drill  was  interesting  but  tiresome.  At  certain  hours  of  the  day 
nothing  w^as  heard  but  the  tap,  tap  of  the  drum,  frying  pan,  barrel 
or  whatever  was  most  convenient  to  make  a  noise.  We  had  to  keep 
our  "thinkeries"  wound  up  in  order  to  remember  the  numbers. 
Some  there  were  who  couldn't  remember,  and  I  guess,  every  com 
pany  had  its  "awkward  squad." 

On  Sunday,  March  22d,  we  received  marching  orders,  and  with 
the  exception  (so  my  diary  says),  of  Companies  C  and  D,  and  a 
small  detail  from  each  of  the  other  companies  that  were  left  back 
for  special  duty  (and  joined  us  later  on),  the  regiment  got  aboard 
the  steamer  "Mary  Washington."  This  was  early  in  the  evening. 
\Ve  lay  down  on  the  deck  after  a  while  and  slept  soundly  all  night. 
About  six  o'clock  next  morning  we  started  and  after  a  pleasant 
voyage  of  16  hours  through  Hampton  Roads  and  Chesapeake  Bay, 
our  boat  anchored  at  Locust  Point  opposite  Baltimore  at  ten  o'clock 
in  the  evening. 

Next  day  (the  24th),  at  i  P.  M.,  we  took  the  cars  on  the  Bal 
timore  &  Ohio  Railroad  and  reached  Harpers  Ferry  about  four 
o'clock  next  morning.  Here  we  got  a  cup  of  steaming  hot  coffee 
that  "just  touched  the  spot."  At  six  o'clock  we  were  under  way 
again.  The  scenery  along  the  road  was  interesting  if  not  beautiful. 
The  B.  &  O.  in  that  locality  ran  through  a  rough  country,  a  good 
deal  of  the  way  across  gullies  and  streams  and  through  mountains 
and  hills.  If  there  was  a  level  farm  along  the  road  I  didn't  see  it. 
I  don't  know  how  many  tunnels  we  went  through.  One  comrade 
said  there  were  20  or  more ;  I  didn't  count  them. 

At  4  P.  M.,  we  stopped  at  Cumberland,  a  beautiful  town  in 
Maryland,  and  got  some  more  hot  coffee.  Riding  the  balance  of 
the  day,  all  night  and  until  4  P.  M.  next  day  we  came  to  Parkers- 
burg  in  West  Virginia,  on  the  Ohio  river.  Here  we  left  the  cars 
and  took  to  water  again,  getting  aboard  the  transport  "Lacrosse." 

Friday  morning,  March  27th,  found  us  steaming  rapidly  down 
the  smooth  waters  of  the  Ohio.  At  ten  o'clock  that  night  our  boat 
tied  up  at  Cincinnati.  Next  morning  we  crossed  the  river  and 
landed  on  the  other  side  at  Covington,  in  Kentucky. 

After  some  delay  the  regiment  got  aboard  the  cars,  and  riding 
through  what  I  thought  was  the  richest  farming  country  I  had  ever 
seen,  we  reached  Paris  in  Bourbon  County  about  6  P.  M.  I  know 


62       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

the  first  thing  that  arrested  my  attention  was  the  striking  contrast 
between  the  scenery  down  there  and  the  wasted  fields  of  Virginia 
that  we  had  left  behind.  In  Virginia,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of 
Fredericksburg,  where  we  had  camped  for  several  months,  practi 
cally  all  the  buildings,  fences,  timber  and  other  land  marks  on  the 
down-trodden  fields  had  disappeared.  Everything  wras  desolation 
and  ruin.  Kentucky  on  the  other  hand  reminded  us  of  the  well 
kept  farms  we  had  left  in  Pennsylvania,  only  the  hills  were  not  so 
high  or  the  valleys  so  deep  as  in  Tioga  County,  where  I  was 
brought  up. 

Another  thing  that  we  noticed  right  away  was  that  the  people 
— men,  women  and  children — were  friendly  to  us.  Kentucky  like 
the  other  border  states  had  suffered  a  good  deal  from  the  ravages 
of  war.  The  farmers,  especially,  were  in  mortal  dread  of  Morgan's 
guerrillas  who  had  been  up  and  down  the  state  several  times  ' 'leaving 
a  trail  of  pillage  and  destruction  behind  them."  And  when  Bragg 
was  driven  out  of  the  state  in  September,  1862,  the  wagon  train 
loaded  with  plunder  he  took  back  with  him,  was  40  miles  long,  with 
1,500  horses  and  mules,  8,000  head  of  cattle  and  a  big  drove  of 
hogs  bringing  up  the  rear.  By  the  way,  Kentucky  was  a  great 
place  for  hogs  in  those  days.  It  was  nothing  unusual  to  see  40  or 
50  running  together  like  sheep  in  the  same  pasture,  the  property  of 
an  ordinary  farmer. 

After  all  these  depredations  it  is  no  wonder  the  farmers  were 
worried  and  anxious  about  their  property.  But  the  Union  Army 
was  not  there  to  plunder.  The  Ninth  Corps  to  which  wre  belonged 
was  in  Kentucky  temporarily  as  an  army  of  occupation.  Our  busi 
ness  was  to  protect  the  people's  property  instead  of  stealing  or  de 
stroying  it.  They  seemed  to  understand  this.  The  citizens  showed 
us  every  possible  kindness  inviting  us  to  their  homes,  offering  to 
care  for  our  sick  and  extending  other  unique  and  unexpected  cour 
tesies  that  were  appreciated. 

Men,  women  and  children  were  constant  visitors  to  our  camp, 
especially  at  the  hour  of  dress  parade  when  a  crowd  was  always 
present  to  see  us  go  through  the  manual  of  arms  by  the  tap  of  the 
drum  without  a  word  being  spoken.  This  they  seemed  to  think 
was  something  great.  And  it  was  quite  a  trick  and  took  a  lot  of 
drilling  to  learn  to  do  it  without  a  break. 

The  couple  of  weeks  we  stayed  in  Paris  seemed  very  short. 
The  Forty-fifth  camped  on  the  fair  grounds,  the  buildings  being 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  63 

ideal  quarters  for  us.  Paris,  Ky.,  was  nothing  great  and  had  no 
special  attraction  that  I  remember,  but  if  I  may  say  it  here,  the 
name  itself  had  a  peculiar  charm  for  me;  I  had  heard  my  old  father 
talk  (in  French)  so  much  about  that  other  Paris  on  the  banks  of 
the  Seine  in  "La  Belle  France,"  as  he  called  his  native  land. 

We  left  Paris  on  the  loth  of  April.  A  couple  of  hours  ride  on 
the  cars  brought  us  to  Nicholasville,  where  the  railroad  evidently 
got  discouraged  and  stopped.  Camping  about  three  miles  from 
the  station  that  night  a  march  of  n  miles  next  day  brought  us  to 
Camp  Dick  Robinson. 

Located  near  the  center  of  the  state,  Camp  Dick  Robinson  was 
noted  as  being  the  first  Union  camp  established  in  Kentucky,  and 
was  used  as  a  rendezvous  for  our  troops  during  the  war.  Colonel 
Welsh  had  been  promoted  to  Brigadier  General  and  was  in  com 
mand  of  "Camp  Dick,"  while  we  were  there.  Colonel  John  I.  Cur- 
tin  (recently  promoted  from  lieutenant  colonel),  commanded  the 
regiment.  This  arrangement  was  entirely  satisfactory  to  us.  Welsh 
and  Curtin  were  both  fine  officers.  In  some  respects,  however,  they 
were  entirely  different.  Colonel  Welsh  was  a  strict  and  severe 
disciplinarian  if  there  ever  was  one,  and  frequently  reprimanded  the 
company  officers  under  him  for  being  too  familiar  with  the  men. 
His  idea  of  discipline  was  that  officers  and  men  should  keep  their 
proper  distance.  The  boys  understood  this  and  knew  better  than 
to  try  to  be  chummy  with  "Old  Tom,"  as  we  called  him — when  he 
wasn't  around. 

Curtin  was  different.  He  enforced  discipline  all  right.  An 
officer  who  didn't  do  that  would  soon  lose  the  respect  of  his  men 
and  play  out.  But  when  Curtin  was  off  duty  he  laid  aside  his  dig 
nity  and  was  "one  of  the  boys."  In  modern  parlance  he  was  "a 
good  mixer."  While  we  respected  them  both  we  were  afraid  of 
Welsh  and  loved  Curtin. 

To  show  our  appreciation  and  good  will  the  officers  and  men 
of  the  regiment  "chipped  in"  and  presented  Colonel  Curtin  with  a 
fine  horse  while  at  Camp  Dick  Robinson.  After  dress  parade  was 
dismissed  Wednesday  afternoon,  the  22d  of  April,  the  Colonel 
started  for  his  tent  as  usual,  but  was  called  back  on  some  pretext  or 
other.  The  regiment  in  the  meantime  being  formed  in  a  hollow 
square  with  the  officers  in  the  center,  the  horse  was  brought  in  and 
in  a  few  words  presented  to  Colonel  Curtin  by  Quartermaster 
McClure,  "on  behalf  of  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Forty-fifth." 


64       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

The  affair,  intended  to  be  a  surprise,  had  been  so  well  managed 
that  the  Colonel  knew  nothing  about  it  until  the  horse,  saddled  and 
bridled,  was  turned  over  to  him.  A  speech  of  some  kind,  of  course, 
was  in  order.  But  for  once  the  gallant  Colonel  lost  his  nerve.  He 
could  think  of  nothing  to  say.  To  help  him  out  the  boys  gave 
"three  cheers  for  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin."  Mounting  his  new  horse 
Curtin  rode  away  with  the  hearty  cheers  of  the  whole  regiment  ring 
ing  in  his  ears.  And  the  incident,  a  very  pleasant  one  for  all  con 
cerned,  was  over. 

The  horse  turned  out  to  be  a  good  one.  Curtin  rode  him  in 
all  our  subsequent  marches  in  Kentucky,  during  the  Mississippi 
campaign;  in  East  Tennessee,  and  when  Curtin  commanded  a  bri 
gade  in  the  summer  of  1864  the  same  horse  carried  him  through 
the  battles  of  the  Wilderness;  Spottsylvania,  Cold  Harbor,  and  in 
the  engagements  before  Petersburg  until  the  battle  of  Poplar  Spring 
Church,  September  3Oth,  where  a  good  share  of  the  regiment  was 
captured.  In  this  battle  Curtin's  horse  was  shot  dead  under  him 
and  he  himself  barely  escaped  being  killed  or  captured  as  will 
appear  in  its  proper  place  in  the  history. 

Colonel  Curtin  on  horseback  was  a  notable  figure  along  the 
lines  of  the  Ninth  Corps  during  the  siege  of  Petersburg.  He  was 
a  graceful  daring  rider  and  how  he  used  to  make  the  dust  (or  mud) 
fly  when  out  exercising  his  horse,  which  he  frequently  did  while 
in  camp. 

While  at  "Camp  Dick"  we  had  a  good  opportunity  to  look 
around  and  get  acquainted  with  the  country  as  well  as  the  people. 
That  was  before  they  started  raising  tobacco  to  any  extent. 
Corn  and  winter  wheat  seemed  to  be  the  main  crops  in  Central 
Kentucky  during  the  war;  although  rice,  hemp  and  grapes  were 
extensively  cultivated.  From  the  hemp  was  manufactured  the 
famous  Kentucky  Jean  that  we  used  to  hear  so  much  about  and 
which  most  of  us  old-timers  have  worn  more  or  less.  The  farm 
work  was  done  mostly  by  negroes.  These  black  people  were  very 
respectful  to  the  "Lincum  Sogers,"  always  taking  off  their  hats 
when  we  met  them. 

Our  brigade  left  Camp  Dick  Robinson  the  last  clay  of  April. 
My  diary  says  we  camped  at  Stanford  that  night  and  next  day  ar 
rived  at  a  small  place  called  Hustonville  and  the  day  after  that, 
May  2d,  we  went  on  to  Middleburg  on  Green  River,  having  marched 
35  miles  from  "Camp  Dick."  The  weather  was  pretty  hot  by  that 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and,  Mississippi  65 

time  and  that  march  was  anything  but  a  promenade.  On  the  nth 
of  May  we  marched  back  about  eight  miles  to  Hustonville,  the 
Ninth  Corps  being  scattered  from  there  down  to  the  Tennessee  line, 
guarding  the  territory  or  engaged  in  various  active  operations. 

The  boys  will  remember  Hustonville  as  the  place  where  the 
citizens  to  show  their  good  will,  got  up  a  picnic  for  the  Forty-fifth. 
May  i  Qth  was  the  day  fixed  for  the  picnic.  Rumors  had  been  flying 
around  that  Morgan's  guerrillas  were  prowling  about  that  locality. 
Anyway,  we  got  up  before  daylight  that  morning  and  after  cooking 
rations  and  packing  up  as  if  a  long  march  was  expected  the  regi 
ment  was  divided  in  two  parts  and  marched  out  a  few  miles  on 
different  roads.  Forming  line  of  battle  in  strong  positions  we 
waited  long  hours  for  something — guerrillas  maybe — to -turn  up. 
At  eleven  o'clock  we  marched  back  to  camp.  It  was  a  false  alarm. 
Still,  owing  to  the  many  rumors  of  the  proximity  of  the  enemy 
and  in  order  not  to  disappoint  the  citizens  who  had  taken  so  much 
pains  to  do  us  honor,  part  of  the  regiment  remained  in  camp  ready 
for  an  emergency,  while  most  of  the  officers  and  some  of  the  men 
went  to  the  picnic  in  a  small  grove  near  by.  One  of  the  features 
of  the  program  carried  out  was  some  lively  "tripping  of  the  light 
fantastic  toe"  on  a  platform  built  for  that  purpose,  in  which  shoul- 
derstraps  and  crinoline  (the  women  all  wore  hoops  then),  were 
much  in  evidence.  In  fact  they  were  the  "whole  push." 

Among  the  ladies  present  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  fes 
tivities  were  Mrs.  Samuel  Haynes  and  Mrs.  Ephraim  Jeffers,  who 
were  on  a  visit  to  their  husbands,  Lieutenants  Haynes  and  Jeffers 
of  Company  G. 

Before  adjourning  arrangements  were  made  for  another  picnic 
to  be  held  on  the  22d,  more  especially  for  the  enlisted  men.  There 
was  no  hitch  this  time.  A  table  wras  set  long  enough  to  accommo 
date  the  whole  regiment.  No,  I  am  not  going  to  tell  you  what  we 
had  to  eat  or  how  much.  All  I  remember  is  that  after  everybody 
was  satisfied  there  was  enough  left  for  an  ordinary  banquet. 

Most  of  the  officers  being  on  picket  duty,  having  volunteered 
for  that  purpose,  Sergeant-Major  Harvey  Benner  was  marshal  of 
the  day.  Speeches  were  made  by  First  Sergeant  Hollahan  of  Com 
pany  A  and  Sergeant  Yarrington  of  Company  D.  And  then  Colonel 
Wolford  of  the  First  Kentucky  Cavalry  and  General  Fry  enter 
tained  us  with  some  genuine  Kentucky  oratory.  It  was  an  inter 
esting  coincidence,  to  say  the  least,  that  General  Fry,  General 


66       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Welsh  (who,  of  course,  was  present),  and  Colonel  Wolford  had 
served  together  in  Mexico.  Referring  to  this  General  Fry  in  his 
speech  said,  " General  Welsh  was  a  gallant  private,  a  gallant  cor 
poral  and  a  gallant  sergeant  in  the  regiment  to  which  I  belonged." 

I  have  referred  to  the  picnic  somewhat  in  detail  because  it  was 
a  unique  experience  for  us  and  one  around  which  cluster  pleasant 
memories  of  wartime. 

We  had  scarcely  reached  camp  after  the  picnic  when  orders 
came  to  pack  up.  We  left  Hustonville  about  ten  o'clock  next  morn 
ing  May  23d,  and  camped  that  night  near  a  little  place  called  Lib 
erty.  Next  day  was  Sunday  and  we  rested.  (Wonder  why?  It  was 
so  seldom  that  our  generals  paid  any  attention  to  the  Sabbath.) 
Monday  the  regiment  marched  about  fifteen  miles  and  next  day 
we  reached  Columbia,  43  miles  from  Hustonville.  Friday,  the  29th, 
we  marched  south  to  Jamestown  through  a  drenching  rain  and  over 
the  worst  roads  we  had  seen  since  leaving  Virginia. 

Jamestown  is  about  four  miles  from  the  Cumberland  River  and 
during  the  war  the  country  in  that  vicinity  was  little  better  than  a 
wilderness.  Tuesday  morning,  June  2d,  the  Rebels  made  a  dash 
at  our  pickets  and  created  quite  a  little  excitement.  Johnny  Fenn 
got  out  his  drum  and  beat  the  long  roll.  We  fell  in  line  ready  for 
battle,  but  there  was  no  need.  It  was  probably  a  reconnoitering 
party  sent  out  by  Morgan  to  feel  of  us  and  see  if  there  were  any 
Yankees  in  that  neck-of-the-woods.  There  were,  and  the  John 
nies  retired  across  the  river.  Casualties  on  our  side  so  far  as  we 
know :  Six  men  and  ten  horses  captured  and  one  commissioned 
officer  badly  frightened.  A  few  weeks  after  that,  however,  while 
we  were  in  Mississippi  or  on  the  way  there,  Morgan  with  3,000 
men  and  six  guns  did  cross  the  Cumberland  river  in  that  same  local 
ity  on  his  famous  raid  through  Kentucky,  Indiana  and  Ohio.  Had 
we  remained  in  Kentucky  or  pushed  on  into  Tennessee  as  we  ex 
pected  to  do,  Morgan  would  probably  have  ran  up  against  us  and 
the  chances  are  that  his  daring  raid  through  three  states  during 
which  he  cut  a  wide  swath  of  vandalism,  brutality  and  murder, 
would  have  been  delayed  or  maybe  prevented.  But  we  couldn't  be 
in  two  places  at  once. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  two  days  after  the  skirmish  at  "Jimtown" 
our  brigade,  consisting  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania,  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Massachusetts,  and  the  Seventeenth  and  Twenty-seventh 
Michigan,  commanded  by  Colonel  Bowman  of  the  Thirty-sixth 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi 


Massachusetts,  left  camp  near  Jamestown  and  marched  back  to  Co 
lumbia.  This  retrograde  movement  puzzled  us  somewhat ;  but  'we 
had  been  in  the  service  long  enough  then  to  know  that  our  business 
was  to  obey  orders  and  ask  no  questions. 

Just  the  Ninth  Corps'  luck.  "A  wandering  corps,"  as  Colonel 
Fox  says,  "whose  dead  lie  buried  in  seven  states."  During  the 
first  three  years'  of  the  war,  the  Ninth  Corps  seemed  to  be  con 
sidered  what  we  might  call  an  "emergency  corps"  to  be  sent  here 
and  there  wherever  its  services  \vere  needed  most.  And  the  Forty- 
fifth  was  in  the  same  boat  long  before  we  joined  the  Ninth  Corps. 
The  regiment  as  we  all  knew  made  long  journeys  by  land  and 
water;  our  battles  were  fought  on  widely  separated  fields  and  in 
cluding  the  98  poor  fellows  wrho  perished  in  Confederate  prisons 
our  dead  were  buried  in  ten  different  states  of  the  Union. 

Our  next  stopping  place  after  leaving  Columbia  wras  Lebanon, 
where  we  arrived  June  6th.  The  weather  by  that  time  was  very 
hot  indeed  and  the  dust  on  those  Kentucky  pikes,  a  species  of  lime 
stone,  was  something  fierce.  Anyway  that  55  miles  from  James 
town  to  Lebanon  came  near  "bushing"  a  lot  of  us.  The  boys  will 
remember  Lebanon  from  the  circumstances  that  the  paymaster 
came  around  to  see  us  while  there  and  gave  us  privates  all  of  $26 
apiece,  two  months'  pay.  Not  much  to  brag  about  to  be  sure ;  but 
these  things  go  by  comparison.  The  Confederate  soldiers  who 
worked  for  nothing  all  the  time  and  boarded  themselves  (or  fasted) 
part  of  the  time,  would  have  considered  $13  a  month  a  munificent 
wage. 

What  did  we  do  with  our  money?  Many  of  the  boys  sent  it 
home  to  be  salted  down  for  a  rainy  day.  Some  of  us  spent  it. 
Henry  Starr,  the  regimental  sutler,  could  tell  you  where  a  good 
share  of  the  soldiers'  greenbacks  went.  With  a  fringe  of  whiskers 
around  his  rubicund  face,  Starr  always  reminded  me  somewhat  of 
Horace  Greeley.  But  they  were  different,  these  two;  and,  I  sup 
pose,  each  was  useful  in  his  sphere.  Greeley  wrote  brilliant  edi 
torials  for  the  Tribune,  while  Starr  furnished  us  (for  two  prices), 
tobacco,  writing  material,  butter,  cheese,  canned  goods  and  other 
stuff  that  we  thought  we  needed.  Of  course,  we  could  have  got 
along  without  most  of  these-  things  and  saved  our  money  as  the 
Government  was  supposed  to  furnish  all  that  was  necessary.^  But 
as  the  French  would  say  (with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders),  "What 
would  you?"  Very  few  of  us  had  a  wife  and  babies  to  support  in 


68       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

those  days  and  a  dollar  didn't  look  so  big  to  us  then  as  it  did  later 
on,  after  the  war.  And  the  chances  were  that  we  shouldn't  get  out 
alive  and  need  the  money  anyway.  At  any  rate  Starr  got  a  good 
share  of  our  greenbacks. 

Towards  night  after  we  got  our  money  on  June  7th  the  regi 
ment  got  aboard  the  cars  at  Lebanon  (the  end  of  the  railroad,  by 
the  way),  and  rode  through  a  beautiful  country  to  Louisville.  Here 
we  crossed  the  Ohio  river  to  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  and  went  from 
there  by  rail  to  Seymour  where  we  changed  cars  and  took  the  Ohio 
&  Mississippi  Railroad  to  Vincennes,  still  in  Indiana,  and  after  an 
all-day  ride  we  reached  Cairo,  111.,  June  Qth.  Our  passage  through 
Indiana  and  Illinois  was  a  continuous  ovation.  Men,  women  and 
children  cheered  and  waved  flags  and  handkerchiefs  as  the  cars 
laden  with  soldiers  went  by,  and  at  every  opportunity  the  people 
crowded  around  us,  coming  into  the  cars,  even,  to  bid  us  welcome 
and  bring  good  things  to  eat.  I  mention  this  because  it  was  an 
unusual  experience  for  us. 

Wednesday,  June  loth,  we  got  aboard  the  transport  "Sallie 
List,"  and  by  3  P.  M.,  were  going  down  the  Mississippi,  the  flag 
ship  "Meteor,"  with  Colonel  Bowman  and  his  regiment,  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Massachusetts  on  board,  leading  our  little  flotilla.  Early  next 
morning  we  passed  Island  No.  10  of  historic  memory.  Along  in 
the  evening,  Thursday,  June  Qth,  the  "Sallie  List"  arrived  off  the 
city  of  Memphis  and  cast  anchor,  it  being  understood  that  we  were 
to  stop  over  one  day  while  they  cleaned  the  boat. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  went  ashore  next  morning  and  stayed  in 
Memphis  five  or  six  days,  and  had  a  good  time,  too.  We  camped 
on  the  public  square,  where  peddlers  with  fruit,  pies  and  other 
truck  in  the  eating  line  came  at  all  hours  of  the  day.  They  seemed 
to  be  friendly  all  right,  but  I  suspect  that  they  cared  more  for  our 
greenbacks  than  they  did  for  us. 

While  in  the  city  we  showed  the  citizens  a  few  tricks  in  going 
through  the  manual  of  arms  by  the  tap  of  the  drum.  One  morn 
ing  the  following  notice  appeared  in  the  Memphis  Bulletin :  "The 
Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  yesterday  engrossed  our  attention  by  some 
of  its  evolutions  in  the  manual  of  arms.  We  have  never  seen  to 
gether  a  more  healthy  and  finer  body  of  men.  Colonel  Curtin,  its 
youthful  but  able  commander,  is  in  every  way  worthy  of  his  posi 
tion.  Success  to  the  Keystone  Boys !"  We  were  always  sure  of 
an  audience  on  dress  parade  while  in  Memphis. 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  69 

Early  Wednesday  morning,  June  I7th,  we  were  again  on  board 
the  "Sallie  List"  and  going  down  the  Mississippi.  Rumors  had 
come  back  to  us  that  the  other  boats  which  had  left  Memphis  sev 
eral  days  earlier  had  been  fired  upon  by  bushwackers  concealed  in 
the  woods  along  the  shore.  But  they  didn't  bother  us  any.  The 
Mississippi  was  just  as  muddy  and  as  crooked  in  those  days  as  it  is 
now.  There  were  so  many  short  crooks  and  turns  that  the  joker 
of  Company  G  said  he  expected  every  minute  to  see  our  own  boat 
coming  back  to  meet  us ! 

Friday,  June  iQth,  we  arrived  at  Young's  point  in  Mississippi 
and  after  a  delightful  three  hours'  ride  on  the  Yazoo  river  the 
regiment  landed  at  Snyder's  Bluff  about  3  P.  M.  A  tedious  march 
of  three  or  four  miles  under  a  scorching  sun,  over  rough  ground 
cut  up  with  ridges  and  gullies,  brought  us  to  where  the  other  regi 
ments  of  our  brigade  were  camped,  1 1  miles  in  rear  of  Vicksburg. 

Our  business  there  was  to  help  protect  Grant's  rear  while  he 
besieged  Vicksburg.  That  is,  while  Grant  with  a  line  of  battle  15 
miles  long  wras  investing  Vicksburg,  we  were  part  of  another  line 
under  Sherman  facing  the  other  way — facing  Joe  Johnston,  who 
with  a  constantly  increasing  army  was  watching  for  a  favorable 
opportunity  to  jump  on  Grant's  back,  so  to  speak,  and  if  possible, 
break  the  bull-dog  grip  he  had  on  Pemberton's  army  shut  up  in 
Vicksburg. 

So  they  set  us  to  digging  trenches,  building  breastwork,  felling 
trees,  etc.,  to  strengthen  our  position.  That  sort  of  thing  nearly 
killed  us,  the  climate  of  Mississippi  being  so  much  warmer  than 
we  had  been  accustomed  to.  Johnston  didn't  molest  us,  it  is  true, 
and  we  had  no  battles  to  fight  during  the  siege,  but  if  the  boys 
had  had  their  choice  most  of  them  would  have  dropped  their  axes, 
picks  and  shovels  and  shouldered  a  musket.  Another  thing  that 
bothered  us  besides  the  extreme  heat  was  the  scarcity  of  water,  and 
what  we  did  get  was  miserable  stuff.  Oh,  how  we  longed  to  fill 
our  canteens  from  the  "Old  oaken  bucket"  up  in  Tioga  County,  or 
patronize  the  copious  springs  in  "Old  Kentucky!" 

But  there  was  one  redeeming  feature  about  Mississippi.  Forag 
ing  was  good  down  there.  Berries  and  all  kinds  of  fruit  and  later 
on  green  corn  grew  in  abundance  in  that  locality,  and  being  in  the 
enemy's  country  we  made  no  bones  in  taking  what  we  wanted. 

I  was  fortunate  enough  to  get  a  pass  one  day  to  visit  Grant's 
inner  line  of  works,  and  spent  several  hours  in  the  trenches  at  the 


70       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

extreme  front.  An  elaborate  system  of  rifle  pits,  ditches  and  cov 
ered  ways  made  it  possible  to  move  the  whole  length  of  the  line 
without  much  risk  of  being  shot.  Sand  bags  were  put  on  the  rifle 
pits  far  enough  apart  for  musketry.  Good  sized  logs  on  top  the 
sand  bags  made  a  breastwork  high  enough  to  afford  the  men  ample 
protection.  I  noticed  some  six-footers  walking  around  unconcerned, 
so  with  my  short  five  feet  five  (the  same  height  as  General  Sheri 
dan,  only,  I  suppose,  he  didn't  know  it,)  I  felt  pretty  safe.  I  bor 
rowed  a  gun  from  one  of  the  boys  in  the  rifle  pits  and  fired  some 
shots  at  what  I  thought  were  Rebel  heads  sticking  up  above  the 
wrorks ;  but  maybe  someplayful  Johnnies  wrere  holding  their  caps  up 
on  the  end  of  ramrods  to  fool  me.  The  chances  are  that  I  didn't 
hurt  anybody.  The  fact  is  that  our  men  were  banging  away  all 
the  time. 

Day  and  night  cannonading  and  musketry  could  be  heard  all 
along  the  line  during  the  siege,  most  of  it  coming  from  our  side. 
The  Confederates  were  more  chary  of  their  ammunition,  having 
less  of  it  to  throw  away.  In  some  places  the  lines  were  so  close  to 
gether  that  clubs  and  hand  grenades  were  thrown  back  and  forth 
from  one  line  to  the  other,  so  I  was  told,  but  they  didn't  amuse 
themselves  that  way  while  I  was  there. 

The  usual  din  and  racket  continued  until  July  3rd  when  it 
seemed  to  slacken.  Next  morning,  July  4th,  1863,  a  day  to  be  long 
remembered  in  this  country,  firing  ceased  all  along  the  line. 

Pretty  soon  news  came  that  Vicksburg  had  surrendered.  Did 
that  mean  that  wre  were  to  have  a  rest  and  take  it  easy  for  a  while? 
Not  much.  We  had  scarcely  got  done  cheering  over  the  victory 
when  orders  came  to  "pack  up  and  get  ready  to  move." 

Before  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg  was  formally  accomplished 
an  army  of  50,000  under  Sherman  was  marching  against  Johnston 
with  orders  to  do  him  up — if  we  could  catch  him.  Grant's  instruc 
tions  to  Sherman  were  not  very  explicit,  but  extremely  compre 
hensive.  "I  want  you  to  drive  Johnston  out  in  your  own  way  and 
inflict  on  the  enemy  all  the  punishment  you  can.  I  will  support  you 
to  the  last  man  that  can  be  spared,"  were  the  closing  words  of  a 
letter  Grant  sent  to  Sherman  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  day  of  the 
surrender. 

The  two  divisions  of  the  Ninth  Corps  under  General  John  G. 
Parke,  which,  of  course,  included  the  Forty-fifth,  took  a  leading 
part  in  the  expedition  against  Johnston.  Referring  to  my  diary  I 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  71 

find  that  on  Monday,  July  6th,  we  came  to  the  western  bank  of  the 
Big  Black  River,  a  muddy  stream  five  or  six  rods  wide.  Flowing 
from  the  banks,  however,  we  found  some  springs  of  good  clear 
water,  the  best  we  came  across  anywhere  in  the  State.  Needless 
to  say  that  we  drank  all  we  could,  filled  our  canteens  and  then  drank 
some  more  of  that  water  knowing  it  would  be  many  a  long  hot  day 
before  we  found  any  more  like  it. 

The  Rebels,  of  course,  had  destroyed  the  bridges  across  the 
river  and  it  took  us  long  hours  and  hard  work  to  build  new  ones. 
About  two  o'clock  next  day  we  crossed  the  river  and  marched  till 
nine  or  ten  o'clock  that  night,  and  would  have  gone  farther  if  a 
terrific  thunder  storm  hadn't  struck  us  and  made  marching  out  of 
the  question.  A  darker  night  we  never  saw.  That  is,  it  was  dark 
as  pitch  between  flashes  of  lurid  lightning  that  fairly  blinded  us. 
But  the  rain  which  came  down  in  torrents  served  one  good  purpose. 
It  had  been  a  hot,  dusty  march  that  afternoon.  Our  canteens  were 
empty  and  we  were  dry.  Soldiers  are  always  dry  when  their  can 
teens  are  empty.  Some  caught  the  water  in  their  tin  cups;  other 
didn't  wait  to  do  that,  they  simply  tilted  their  heads  back,  opened 
their  mouths  and  let  the  rain  do  the  rest.  "What's  a  big  mouth  for 
anyway?"  one  of  the  boys  said  as  the  cooling  drop  trickled  down 
his  throat.  The  refreshment  we  got  in  that  way  was  mild  for  the 
occasion  to  be  sure,  but  better  than  most  of  the  water  we  got  down 
there. 

We  filed  off  into  a  field  (not  far  from  Jeff  Davis'  plantation  near 
Bolton),  stacked  arms,  skirmished  around  for  some  wood  and  soon 
had  roaring  fires  going.  The  next  thing  was  some  red  hot  coffee 
that  put  new  life  into  us.  It's  wonderful  what  a  cup  of  coffee  will 
do  when  a  fellow  is  "all  in"  or  all  out  as  the  case  may  be.  Coffee 
for  supper  didn't  keep  us  awake  then  as  it  does  now.  With  no  bet 
ter  couch  than  our  rain-soaked  clothes  and  gum  blankets,  I  doubt 
if  many  of  us  ever  slept  better  than  we  did  that  night.  It's  no 
trouble  to  sleep  anywhere  if  you  can  stand  it,  to  get  good  and  tired. 
We  heard  afterwards  that  several  soldiers  were  killed  by  lightning 
during  the  storm. 

My  diary  slipped  a  cog  for  the  next  two  days,  but  my  impression 
is  that  the  next  day — July  8th — we  were  bothered  by  a  wagon  train 
and  some  other  troops  that  seemed  to  have  the  right  of  way  and 
crowded  us  out  of  the  road  and  on  the  Qth  we  didn't  get  into  camp 
until  quite  late.  About  four  o'clock  Friday  afternoon,  July  loth, 


72       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

our  advance  guard  came  in  contact  with  the  enemy  a  couple  of 
miles  from  Jackson,  the  capital  of  Mississippi.  General  Welsh 
formed  his  division  for  battle.  Our  regiment  and  the  Seventy- 
ninth  New  York  (Highlanders),  were  deployed  as  skirmishers.  In 
our  front  was  one  of  those  big  corn  fields  for  which  that  part  of 
the  state  was  noted,  and  beyond  the  corn  field  the  Jackson  &  Grenada 
Railroad.  Supported  by  the  balance  of  the  First  Division  of  the 
Ninth  Corps  in  line  of  battle  the  skirmishers  advanced  through  the 
corn  field.  The  railroad  cut  in  our  front  was  a  source  of  anxiety 
to  some  of  us.  Would  there  be  a  line  of  battle  or  a  skirmish  line 
behind  the  embankment  to  mow  us  down  as  we  advanced?  Rail 
road  cuts  were  frequently  used  for  breastworks  during  the  war. 
They  make  the  best  kind  of  ready-to-use  rifle  pits.  General  Sher 
man  used  to  say  that  one  great  difference  between  himself  and  Grant 
was  that  Grant  never  worried  over  what  the  enemy  was  doing  that 
he  couldn't  see.  "But,"  said  Sherman,  "that's  what  scares  me  like 
hell !"  If  any  of  us  were  as  badly  scared  as  all  that  comes  to  we 
made  no  sign  but  kept  our  places  on  the  skirmish  line  just  the  same. 
Scattering  shots  were  fired  at  us  by  the  Rebel  skirmishers,  but  not 
enough  to  stop  or  even  delay  our  advance. 

Some  Johnnies  who  had  been  watching  us  from  a  piece  of 
woods  on  a  rise  of  ground  beyond  the  railroad  fired  a  few  volleys  and 
disappeared  in  the  timber.  One  fellow  on  a  white  horse  came  out 
of  the  woods  and  circling  around  as  if  to  show  off  fired  a  shot  that 
landed  not  far  from  Colonel  Curtin  in  the  rear  of  the  skirmish  line. 
To  our  surprise  and  great  relief  the  coast  was  clear  on  the  railroad. 
Crossing  the  track  the  skirmish  line  went  on  up  the  slope  towards 
the  woods,  where  the  enemy  had  disappeared,  and  finally  halted 
near  the  State  Lunatic  Asylum  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Jack 
son.  One  of  the  inmates  of  the  asylum  came  to  his  grated  window 
and  made  a  speech  to  us.  I  suppose  the  poor  fellow  called  it  a 
speech  although  we  could  make  neither  head  nor  tail  to  what  he 
said.  But  he  was  a  glib  talker  all  right,  and  judging  from  the 
way  he  shook  his  long  fingers  at  us,  he  must  have  been  a  retired 
politician ! 

Towards  night  we  deployed  as  skirmishers  again,  advanced 
through  the  woods  and  caught  up  with  the  enemy  about  dark.  Be 
tween  nine  and  ten  o'clock  both  sides  ceased  firing  and  we  lay  on 
our  arms  till  morning  within  20  or  30  rods  of  the  enemy's  pickets, 
part  of  the  men  being  allowed  to  sleep. 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  73 

Early  the  next  morning  we  moved  forward  again  and  kept  on 
advancing  under  a  brisk  fire  until  the  enemy  were  driven  into  their 
works. 

The  Confederates  having  chosen  their  own  ground  had  an 
immense  advantage  over  us.  They  were  concealed  behind  rifle  pits 
in  the  wToods.  Our  line  was  in  the  open  just  as  the  enemy  had 
planned  it  should  be.  I  guess  the  boys  all  thought  the  next  thing 
wpyld  be  to  charge  the  rifle  pits ;  but  no  such  orders  came.  To 
stand  up  and  fight,  exposed  as  \ve  were  to  the  short  range  fire  of 
the  Confederates  in  their  rifle  pits  was  little  better  than  suicide — 
and  unnecessary. 

We  had  been  drilled  to  load  and  fire  lying  down  and  could  do 
about  as  well  that  way  as  any.  So,  instead  of  standing  up  as  tar 
gets  for  the  enemy  we  got  as  near  the  ground  as  we  could.  Of 
course,  we  felt  the  heat  more  in  that  way.  Lying  down,  we  got 
the  full  benefit  of  the  midsummer  tropical  sun  that  kept  getting 
hotter  and  hotter  as  the  day  advanced.  It  was  a  dandy  place  to  be 
overcome  with  the  heat  and  the  wonder  is  that  more  of  us  didn't 
get  ''sun  struck"  that  day.  I  don't  remember  how  long  we  were 
there,  two  or  three  hours  probably,  although  it  seemed  longer  than 
that. 

About  eleven  o'clock  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  came  to 
relieve  us.  Our  ammunition  was  gone  and  we  couldn't  have  stood 
it  much  longer  in  that  blistering  sun,  anyway. 

We  lost  one  commissioned  officer  and  three  enlisted  men  killed : 
Second  Lieutenant  Richard  Humphrey  and  Sergeant  Lewis  F.  Hill 
of  Company  F,  and  Comrades  Francis  Stratton  of  Company  H 
and  James  Navle  of  Company  I.  The  great  wonder  among  other 
troops  was  that  we  had  been  so  much  exposed  and  suffered  so  little 
loss.  Without  doubt  our  tactics  of  lying  down  on  the  skirmish  line 
saved  many  lives  in  the  Forty -fifth  that  day. 

When  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  came  to  take  our  places, 
instead  of  keeping  close  to  the  ground  as  we  were  doing  and  as  we 
repeatedly  cautioned  them  to  do,  they  were  inclined  to  poke  fun  at 
us  because  we  didn't  "stand  up  and  take  our  medicine."  We  knew 
well  enough  what  would  happen.  These  stalwart  Massachusetts 
boys  made  splendid  targets  for  the  Johnnies  all  snug  behind  their 
rifle  pits.  We  never  knew  how  many  of  them  were  hit.  I  know 
that  several  were  struck  and  severely  wounded  before  we  left  the 


74       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

field.  Anyhow,  they  learned  an  important  lesson  that  day  and  that 
is,  that  exposing  themselves  unnecessarily  was  recklessness  and  not 
bravery. 

The  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  was  a  splendid  regiment.  They 
were  brigaded  with  us  during  practically  their  entire  service,  which 
began  in  the  fall  of  1862.  A  strong  attachment  existed  between 
the  officers  and  men  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  and  the 
Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  storm  the  enemy's  works  or  bring  on 
a  general  engagement.  Skirmish  lines  writh  proper  support  did 
most  of  the  fighting  on  our  side  as  far  as  we  could  see.  Which 
was  a  mighty  good  thing  for  us.  Had  an  assault  been  made  there 
would  be  a  different  story  to  tell  and  some  of  us  probably  wouldn't 
be  here  to  tell  it. 

A  great  deal  of  ammunition  was  wasted  during  the  siege.  The 
sound  of  artillery  and  musketry  was  heard  day  and  night.  Several 
solid  shots  from  the  enemy'  batteries  passed  through  the  insane 
asylum  wounding  some  of  the  inmates  and  scaring  the  others  almost 
to  death. 

Referring  to  some  notes  made  at  the  time  I  find  that  Sunday, 
July  1 2th,  we  were  relieved  from  duty  at  the  immediate  front  the 
Second  Division  of  the  Ninth  Corps  taking  the  place  of  the  First  to 
which  we  belonged.  Sunday  afternoon  was  comparatively  quiet 
along  the  lines.  Monday  morning  firing  began  early  on  both  sides 
and  continued  all  day. 

At  i  P.  M.,  on  Tuesday,  the  I4th,  a  heavy  detail  from  our  regi 
ment  was  sent  to  the  front.  We  occupied  some  rifle  pits,  our  busi 
ness  being  to  engage  the  enemy's  attention  while  Sherman  maneu 
vered  to  surround  the  city  or  cut  off  Johnston's  retreat — if  he 
stayed  there  long  enough. 

Wednesday  afternoon  the  Confederates  sent  in  a  flag  of  truce, 
asking  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities  while  they  buried  their  dead. 
Another  truce  was  asked  for  and  granted  the  next  day.  So  our  fir 
ing  must  have  had  some  effect. 

On  Thursday,  the  i6th,  we  were  relieved  from  the  firing  line 
and  took  no  further  active  part  in  the  siege  of  Jackson. 

Friday  morning  all  was  strangely  quiet  along  the  line.  Jack 
son  had  been  evacuated  during  the  night.  The  Second  Division  of 
the  Ninth  Corps  were  the  first  troops  to  occupy  the  town  after  the 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  75 

enemy  left  it.  We  took  about  300  prisoners,  some  giving  themselves 
up  while  others  were  "caught  napping,"  about  the  houses  and  in  the 
woods  near  by. 

Jackson  was  a  beautiful  town  before  the  war,  but  like  many 
other  places  in  the  South  that  had  been  occupied  by  the  contending 
armies,  much  of  the  wealth  and  elegance  of  the  capital  of  Mississippi 
had  disappeared.  The  Confederates,  of  course,  claim  that  we  did 
all  the  mischief;  but  their  own  soldiers  showed  little  respect  for 
public  or  private  property.  The  chances  are  that  Johnston's  army 
did  their  full  share  of  the  looting. 

A  comrade  and  I  got  a  pass  to  "do"  the  city  for  an  hour  or 
two  after  our  troops  had  taken  possession.  The  houses  were  prac 
tically  all  deserted  except  by  here  and  there  a  faithful  negro.  Many 
of  the  dwellings  had  been  ransacked  and  much  property  carried 
away  or  destroyed.  Costly  furniture  was  banged  up  and  broken. 
In  one  house  a  beautiful  piano  had  been  ruined.  Unfortunately 
there  were  soldiers  in  both  armies  mean  enough  to  do  that  sort  of 
thing. 

I  came  near  breaking  the  eighth  commandment  myself.  Select 
ing  a  couple  of  books  from  a  fine  library  I  was  foolish  enough  to 
think  for  a  moment  that  I  could  take  them  with  me ;  but  on  second 
thought  I  knew  better.  We  already  had  all  the  load  we  could 
stand  under  and  march  let  alone  carrying  any  plunder.  So  I  didn't 
steal  anything  after  all.  Johnston's  army  had  so  much  the  start  of 
us  that  it  was  no  use  trying  to  overtake  it. 

Saturday  and  Sunday,  July  i8th  and  iQth,  our  brigade  was 
busy  destroying  a  stretch  of  the  Mississippi  Central  Railroad  in  the 
vicinity  of  Toogaloo  Station,  10  or  12  miles  out  of  Jackson.  Our 
orders,  to  tear  up  the  track,  burn  the  ties,  bend  the  rails  and  de 
stroy  the  culverts,  were  carried  out  as  effectually  as  the  time  at 
our  disposal  would  permit.  A  good  way  to  dispose  of  the  ties  and 
rails  at  the  same  time,  after  tearing  up  the  track,  was  to  pile  up  the 
ties,  set  them  afire,  then  lay  the  rails  crosswise  on  top ;  the  rails  in 
this  way,  when  red  hot,  bending  and  warping  themselves  out  of 
shape  while  the  ties  went  up  in  smoke.  Another  way  was  to  take 
a  rail,  red  hot  in  the  middle,  and  bend  it  around  a  tree.  But  that 
was  slow  business  and  we  didn't  do  much  of  it.  In  a  couple  of 
days  we  destroyed  about  ten  miles  of  railroad  north  of  Jackson,  or 
put  the  road  out  of  business,  so  the  enemy  couldn't  use  it  again 
during  the  war.  That  sort  of  thing  was  tough  soldiering  and  un- 


76       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

der  a  blistering  July  sun  it  all  but  killed  us.  No  wonder  some  of 
the  boys  were  knocked  out  by  the  extreme  heat  and  over-exertion 
and  never  got  over  it.  Another  thing,  we  had  to  keep  a  sharp  look 
out  all  the  time  and  men  enough  under  arms  to  guard  against  sur 
prise  by  the  enemy's  cavalry  who  were  prowling  around,  watching 
for  a  chance  to  make  it  still  hotter  for  the  "cussed  Yankees." 

Monday,  July  25th,  we  left  the  vicinity  of  Jackson  and  took 
our  back  track  towards  Vicksburg,  and  a  tedious,  terrible  march  it 
was.  The  scorching  weather  was  bad  enough,  but  to  cap  the  climax, 
our  rations  gave  out.  Some  of  the  boys  saved  their  rations — as 
well  as  their  money — more  carefully  than  others  did.  I  remember 
very  well  of  dividing  my  last  sandwich  of  hard  tack  and  raw  pork 
with  a  comrade  who  seemed  to  need  it  more  than  I  did.  The  last 
day  of  the  march  was  the  \vorst.  I  don't  believe  I  ever  felt  hun 
grier  in  my  life.  I  picked  up  a  bone  alongside  the  road — a  bone 
that  a  discriminating  dog  would  have  passed  by  with  scorn — and 
sucked  it  greedily,  actually  deceiving  myself  into  the  belief  that  I 
was  getting  a  lot  nourishment  from  it.  And  not  a  drop  of  water 
fit  to  drink  did  we  get  anywhere  along  that  weary  dusty  march, 
that  came  near  finishing  a  lot  of  us,  until  we  again  reached  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Big  Black  River,  which  seemed  to  be  the  only 
place  in  Mississippi  where  decent  water  was  available — for  us  any 
way.  We  were  told  afterward  that  the  streams  and  ponds  in  the 
vicinity  of  our  line  of  march  had  been  poisoned  with  carcasses  of 
dead  animals  which  Johnston  in  his  retreat  had  driven  in  and  shot. 
If  we  filled  our  canteens  with  any  of  that  water  we  didn't  know  it. 
Nobody  could  tell  by  the  taste  whether  the  water  down  there  had 
been  "doctored"  or  not.  It  was  all  such  miserable  stuff. 

On  Thursday,  July  23,  we  arrived  at  and  occupied  our  old 
camp  near  Milldale,  "tired,  hungry  and  foot-sore,"  so  my  diary 
says.  Our  work  in  Mississippi  was  done.  If  we  ever  needed  rest 
and  a  chance  to  recuperate  it  was  then.  Our  officers  seemed  to  un 
derstand  this.  Anyway,  drilling  and  all  unnecessary  fatigue  duties 
were  dispensed  with.  And  to  partially  counteract  the  effects  of 
the  climate  and  fever  smitten  locality,  moderate  rations  of  whiskey 
were  issued  to  the  men.  The  officers,  I  suppose,  helped  themselves. 
Some  of  the  boys  liked  the  taste  of  "commissary;"  to  others  the 
clear  stuff  was  worse  than  quinine.  My  tent  mate  (dead  these 
many  years,  poor  fellow),  offered  to  swap  his  allowance  of  sugar 
for  mine  of  whiskey.  The  result  was  that  for  several  days  my 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi 


coffee  had  a  double  dose  of  sweetening  and  he  seemed  to  enjoy  his 
end  of  the  deal  quite  as  well  as  I  did  mine.  Others  did  the  same 
thing  until  the  officers  got  on  to  it.  Then  we  had  to  take  our  bit 
ters  on  the  spot,  the  same  as  our  castor  oil  and  quinine.  There  was 
a  good  deal  of  sickness  in  camp.  Several  deaths  occurred  in  the 
regiment  during  those  last  few  days  in  Mississippi.  David  Hen- 
dershott  of  Company  A,  George  H,  Bockus,  Company  G,  and 
John  G.  Seitz,  Company  K,  were  among  the  comrades  who  suc 
cumbed  to  disease,  and  were  buried  among  the  canebrakes  of  Camp 
Milldale. 

It  was  some  satisfaction  to  know  that  our  services  were  appre 
ciated.  General  Grant,  who  as  we  all  know  never  slopped  over  or 
"talked  through  his  hat,"  gave  us  this  parting  salute  : 

Headquarters  Department  of  the  Tennessee. 

0       .  .  ~  AT  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  July  3ist,  1863. 

Special  Order,  No.  207. 

In  returning  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  to  its  former  command  it 
is  with  pleasure  that  the  general  commanding  acknowledges  its 
valuable  services  in  the  campaign  just  closed.  Arriving  at  Vicks- 
burg  opportunely,  taking  position  to  hold  at  bay  Johnston's  army, 
then  threatening  the  forces  investing  the  city,  it  was  ready  and 
eager  to  assume  the  aggressive  at  any  moment.  After  the  fall  of 
Vicksburg,  it  formed  a  part  of  the  army  which  drove  Johnston 
from  his  position  near  the  Big  Black  River  into  his  trenchments  at 
Jackson,  and  after  a  siege  of  eight  days  compelled  him  to  fly  in 
disorder  from  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The  endurance,  valor  and 
general  good  conduct  of  the  Ninth  Corps  are  admired  by  all,  and 
its  valuable  co-operation  in  achieving  the  final  triumph  of  the  cam 
paign  is  gratefully  acknowledged  by  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. 

Major  General  Parke  will  cause  the  different  regiments  and  bat 
teries  of  his  command  to  inscribe  upon  their  banners  and  guidons 
"Vicksburg"  and  "Jackson." 

By  order  of  Major  General  U.  S.  Grant. 

T.  S.  BOWERS, 
Acting  Assistant  Adjutant  General. 

Wednesday,  August  5th,  our  brigade  now  under  Colonel  Mor 
rison  of  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York,  (the  brigade  having  been 
reorganized),  got  aboard  the  transport  "Hiawatha,"  and  after  an 
interesting  journey  up  the  Mississippi,  stopping  again  at  Memphis 
to  clean  the  boat,  we  arrived  at  Cairo  about  5  P.  M.,  August  loth. 


78       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

I  wonder  how  many  of  the  boys  remember  our  boat  stopping 
somewhere  below  Memphis  on  the  Arkansas  side  of  the  river  to 
get  a  new  supply  of  fuel.  And  how  some  of  us  got  off  the  boat  and 
"invaded"  the  State  of  Arkansas,  while  they  were  loading  the 
wood.  The  incident  was  trivial  and  had  no  particular  significance 
except  that  now  we  can  tell  the  kids  that  we  were  in  Arkansas  during 
the  Civil  war  as  well  as  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  South  Carolina, 
Kentucky,  Mississippi  and  Tennessee,  to  say  nothing  of  our  "travels" 
through  portions  of  Indiana,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  the  District  of 
Columbia,  mostly  on  foot,  in  cattle  cars  or  on  transports  with  steam 
calliopes  playing  patriotic  airs  for  our  entertainment. 

At  midnight,  August  roth,  we  left  Cairo  on  the  cars  and 
reached  Cincinnati  at  n  P.  M.,  of  the  I2th;  marched  through  the 
city  and  crossed  the  Ohio  River  to  Covington.  And  here  we  were 
in  Old  Kentucky  again!  On  Monday,  August  I7th,  we  left  Cov 
ington  by  rail  and  next  day  reached  Camp  Parke  near  Nicholas- 
ville.  Here  the  paymaster  came  around  to  see  us  again  with  his 
trunk  full  of  greenbacks.  How  nice  they  looked  artistically  piled 
up,  each  denomination  by  itself! 

About  this  time  we  began  to  feel  the  effects  of  campaigning 
among  the  bayous  and  poisonous  swamps  of  Mississippi,  that  were 
more  deadly  to  our  soldiers  than  the  enemy's  bullets.  Many  of  our 
regiment  were  taken  sick  with  fever  and  ague.  Some  of  them  lin 
gered  along  and  died  during  the  fall ;  others  were  disabled  a  long 
time. 

General  Welsh  himself  was  stricken  with  fever  and  died  at 
Cincinnati,  August  i/jih,  1863,  two  days  after  our  return  from 
Mississippi.  The  death  of  Colonel  Welsh  (we  always  spoke  of 
him  as  colonel  although  he  wore  the  star  of  a  brigadier  general), 
was  a  painful  shock  to  the  Forty-fifth.  We  used  to  get  out  of  pa 
tience  with  him,  he  was  such  a  stickler  for  discipline  and  made  us 
"walk  the  chalk  line"  many  times  when  we  thought  it  wasn't  neces 
sary.  But  behind  all  this  was  a  feeling  of  profound  respect,  and 
an  abiding  confidence  in  "The  Old  Colonel."  His  experience  in  the 
Mexican  War  and  in  the  three  months'  service  of  the  Civil  War 
was  worth  a  good  deal  to  us.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  the  other 
officers  to  say  that  to  Colonel  Welsh  more  than  to  any  one  else  is 
due  the  credit  of  making  the  Forty-fifth  what  it  was — one  of  the 
best  drilled  and  best  disciplined  regiments  in  the  service. 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  79 

It  was  said  of  Stephen  A.  Douglass  that  he  could  "thunder 
like  the  cataract  or  whisper  with  the  breeze."  The  same  might  be 
said  of  Colonel  Welsh  with  the  breeze  left  out.  One  day  on  dress 
parade  when  the  command,  "Order  Arms,"  was  given  my  gun 
touched  the  ground  a  fraction  of  a  second  behind  time.  "Take 
care  there,  young  man!"  and  I  nearly  jumped  out  of  my  shoes. 

Another  time  several  of  us  were  out  in  quest  of  adventure  and 
incidentally  "applejack"  (yes,  it  was  in  Kentucky),  when  whom 
should  we  meet  but  Colonel  Welsh.  He  knew  we  had  no  business 
— no  military  business  anyway — in  that  direction.  The  colonel 
was  a  man  of  few  words.  "Young  men,  to  camp,  quick!"  was  all 
he  said.  And  it  was  enough.  We  could  almost  feel  his  black  eyes 
boring  into  us  as  we  hustled  back  to  our  quarters. 

It  was  while  commanding  a  brigade  at  South  Mountain  and 
Antietam  that  Colonel  Welsh  attracted  the  attention  of  General 
Burnside  who  promptly  recommended  him  for  promotion  to  briga 
dier  general.  Had  he  lived,  \Velsh  would  undoubtedly  have  at 
tained  a  much  higher  command.  General  Welsh  commanded  the 
First  Division  of  the  Ninth  Corps  all  through  the  Mississippi  cam 
paign  and  was  highly  commended  by  his  superiors  for  efficiency  and 
good  judgment. 

August  27th  the  regiment  moved  from  Nicholasville  to  Crab 
Orchard  in  Lincoln  County,  about  30  miles  from  Camp  Nelson  on 
the  direct  road  from  that  point  to  Cumberland  Gap. 

On  the  loth  of  September  the  Forty-fifth  started  on  its  long 
tedious  march  over  the  Cumberland  Mountains  into  East  Tennes 
see.  That  is,  most  of  the  regiment  started.  A  lot  of  us,  including 
several  commissioned  officers  were  left  back  in  hospital  and  con 
valescent  camp  knocked  out  by  intermittent  fever.  Some  of  these 
joined  the  regiment  later  on,  others  started  for  Tennessee  and  were 
captured  by  the  enemy.  Others  again  are  still  in  Crab  Orchard 
filling  probably  unmarked  graves,  although  we  did  put  up  rude 
boards  with  their  names  and  company  and  regiment  cut  out  with  a 
jack-knife  w^here  we  buried  them. 

Altogether  we  were  in  Kentucky  about  three  months,  two 
months  before  and  one  month  after  the  Mississippi  campaign ;  every 
thing  considered  we  had  a  pretty  good  time.  In  the  first  place  our 
duties  were  comparatively  light;  that  is,  we  had  no  heavy  fatigue 
work  to  do,  such  as  building  breastworks,  digging  trenches  and 
that  sort  of  thing;  but  we  were  busy  just  the  same.,  -The  usual 


8o       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

round  of  camp  duties  when  not  on  the  march  gave  us  plenty  of 
needful  exercise  and  kept  us  down  to  "fighting  weight"  all  the 
time.  And  between  times  when  business  was  dull  we  wrote  long 
letters  and  sent  them  home.  A  soldier's  correspondence  was  an 
important  factor  in  his  life.  The  letters  we  got  from  home,  if  they 
were  of  the  right  sort,  and  most  of  them  were — especially  those 
addressed  in  a  neat  feminine  hand — renewed  our  courage  and  made 
us  better  soldiers  and  more  decent  men.  The  mail  came  to  us 
quite  regularly  when  in  camp.  Bill  Beaser  of  Company  D  was  our 
mail  boy.  We  all  remember  Billy  Beaser.  Billy  had  a  mule  and 
on  certain  days  he  would  mount  his  long-eared  pacer,  hie  himself 
away  to  brigade  headquarters  and  come  back  after  a  while,  his  saddle 
bags  fat  with  letters  and  newspapers  from  far  away  northern  homes. 
And  what  a  scramble  there  was  for  the  mail ! 

Another  thing  that  we  like  to  think  about  is  that  we  were  among 
friends  in  Kentucky — a  novel  experience  for  Union  soldiers  during 
the  war  of  the  rebellion.  If  the  citizens  in  the  vicinity  of  our 
camps  ever  went  back  on  us  and  reported  our  movements  to  the 
enemy  we  didn't  know  it.  Of  course,  we  kept  a  sharp  lookout  for 
Morgan's  guerrillas,  (Morgan's  Cavalry  Brigade,  they  called 
themselves),  who  were  prowling  around  and  might  swoop  down 
on  us  any  fine  day  or  dark  night  when  we  weren't  ready  for  com 
pany — of  that  kind.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  most  of  our  camps  in 
Kentucky  were  in  the  direct  path  of  Morgan's  former  raids. 

Morgan  had  spies  out  all  the  time  and  probably  knew  how  many 
there  were  of  us  and  what  we  were  doing  almost  as  well  as  we 
did.  And  that  explains  why  there  were  no  raids  in  Kentucky  while 
the  Ninth  Corps  was  there. 

Another  thing  in  favor  of  Kentucky  was  the  climate.  It  was 
hot  enough  to  be  sure,  but  comparatively  mild  if  we  remember  the 
sizzling  heat  of  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi.  Our  rations  never 
failed  us  in  Kentucky,  but  if  we  got  tired  of  army  fare  and  wanted 
something  better,  as  most  of  us  did  occasionally  if  we  could  get  it, 
the  natives  were  glad  to  sell  us  a  square  meal  of  ham  and  eggs, 
corn  bread  and  other  good  things.  And  last  but  not  least,  we  had 
plenty  of  good  water;  a  blessing  that  we  appreciated  more  than 
ever  before  after  drinking  the  rotten  stuff  they  called  water  in 
Mississippi. 

Measured  by  the  casualties  we  sustained  and  the  blows  we  struck 
the  enemy,  our  experience  in  Kentucky  was  of  minor  importance. 


Forty-Fifth  in  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  81 

But  the  regiment  need  not  blush  on  that  account.  If  we  had  a  com 
paratively  easy  time  for  a  little  while  in  the  Blue  Grass  State  we 
made  it  up  by  strenuous  campaigns  in  other  fields  during  our  three 
years  and  ten  months  service. 

History  tells  us  that  of  two  thousand  or  more  regiments  in  the 
Union  Army  only  seventeen  lost  more  men,  killed  or  mortally 
wounded  in  action,  than  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania. 


82       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


CHAPTER  VI  ; 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  CAMPAIGNING  IN 
EAST  TENNESSEE 

}  BY  J.  H.  BUCKLEY,  Co.  I. 

(Revised  by  Lieutenant  Thos.  J.  Davies.) 

In  the  latter  part  of  August,  1863,  the  first  brigade  of  the  first 
division,  Ninth  Corps,  was  encamped  at  Camp  Nelson,  near  Nich- 
olasville,  Ky.  The  Ninth  Corps  had  just  returned  from  its  arduous 
campaign  in  Mississippi,  with  sorely  depleted  ranks,  by  reason  of 
its  service  in  that  malarial  district,  under  a  semi-tropical  sun,  dur 
ing  two  of  the  hottest  months  in  the  year,  June  and  July.  The 
losses  sustained  in  that  campaign  and  the  epidemic  of  sickness  fol 
lowing  reduced  our  numerical  strength  to  one-half  of  what  it  was 
three  months  previously.  On  August  3ist  the  total  number  present 
fit  for  duty  was  6,000  officers  and  men.  First  division  numbered 
2,720  and  the  first  brigade,  consisting  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massa 
chusetts,  Eighth  Michigan,  Seventy-ninth  New  York  and  Forty-fifth 
Pennsylvania  regiment  numbered  only  600.  Lieutenant  Colonel  F. 
M.  Hills  was  in  command  of  the  Forty -fifth.  About  the  ist  of  Sep 
tember  the  corps  was  ordered  to  go  to  East  Tennessee  by  way  of 
Cumberland  Gap,  and  we  began  the  march  on  the  loth.  To  me  this 
was  welcome  news,  for  it  opened  up  a  new  country  which  I  had  long 
wished  to  see.  In  this  lively  anticipation  I  was  not  alone.  We  had 
had  a  good  time  in  Kentucky,  but  as  you  all  know,  that  did  not 
make  us  any  the  less  anxious  to  move  southward. 

Ten  days'  rations  of  boiled  pork,  crackers,  sugar  and  coffee, 
added  to  our  other  luggage,  made  a  load  that  a  mule  need  not  be 
ashamed  of.  The  result  was  that  as  the  shadows  lengthened  each 
day  the  miles  grew  longer,  our  loads  lighter  and  some  of  that  ten 
days'  rations  were  sadly  needed  before  we  crossed  the  mountains 
into  Tennesseee.  We  did  not  anticipate  the  utter  poverty  of  the 
country  through  which  we  were  to  pass.  Few  people  were  to  be 
seen,  and  soon  after  leaving  Crab  Orchard  we  entered  the  "cracker" 
region,  among  the  knobs,  of  which  I  had  read  and  heard  so  much. 
These  knobs  or  small  hillocks  extend  in  a  line  westward  across  the 
State  to  the  Ohio  river. 


Corporal  J.  H.  Buckley 
Co.  I 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee  83 

What  few  people  I  saw  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  perfect  produc 
tion  of  the  country,  which  looked  extremely  poor  to  me  in  every 
respect.  Even  the  few  "razorbacks"  we  saw  seemed  ashamed  of 
their  existence  and  avoided  our  acquaintance.  I  do  not  remember 
of  seeing  a  schoolhouse  in  that  section  and  general  appearances  did 
not  improve  until  we  struck  the  valleys  of  East  Tennessee. 

Bragg's  army  had  a  short  time  before  retreated  over  the  same 
road ;  else  it  would  have  been  hard  to  conclude  for  what  purpose  we 
were  going  in  that  direction.  Any  stray  traveler  whom  we  met  was 
eagerly  questioned,  but  very  seldom  with  satisfaction  on  our  part. 
I  well  remember  asking  a  native  as  to  the  number  of  Rebel  cavalry 
that  had  preceded  us  a  few  days  before.  He  said :  "There  was 
quite  a  smart  lot  of  them."  Anxious  to  get  some  definite  number, 
I  asked  again;  and  with  a  quizzical  grin,  as  much  as  to  say  "You 
are  hard  to  understand,"  he  replied.  "Oh!  there  was  quite  a  long 
chance  of  them."  He  looked  as  though  I  might  be  satisfied,  and  I 
was — that  these  simple  people  only  knew  how  to  express  their  ideas 
of  numbers  and  distance  by  such  indefinite  expressions. 

We  met  many  refugees  from  Tennessee  fleeing  from  persecution 
and  death.  They  were  sad  and  dejected,  and  had  but  little  to  say 
and  less  to  eat.  Their  progress  was  slow  toward  liberty — as  fast, 
though,  as  an  old  army  mule  could  go,  hitched  to  an  old  cart,  con 
taining  the  family  and  all  their  worldly  possessions.  As  we  met 
large  numbers  of  these  people,  we  began  to  understand  what  it  cost 
to  be  loyal  to  the  Union  in  that  country,  and  say  what  you  may,  to 
me  it  was  one  of  the  saddest  sights  of  the  war. 

We  passed  through  Crab  Orchard,  Mount  Vernon,  London  and 
Barboursville — little  clumps  of  dark,  wood-colored  houses,  with  not 
to  exceed  500  inhabitants  each.  At  the  latter  place  I  remember  some 
of  the  boys  got  their  canteens  replenished  with  applejack,  a  peculiar 
kind  of  liquor  made  in  that  section  of  the  country,  and  I  believe  it 
could  be  recommended  as  a  pure  article. 

The  Cumberland  River  was  easily  forded  here,  after  which  our 
road  was  up  grade  toward  the  Gap,  often  leading  through  defiles 
little  better  than  creek  bottoms.  The  country  became  more  rough, 
the  hills  higher  and  more  densely  timbered,  and  habitations  scarcer. 
In  fact,  I  ventured  off  the  road  only  once  to  seek  food,  which  al 
ready  began  to  be  scant.  We  had  halted  in  the  afternoon  in  a  deep- 
wooded  ravine.  The  narrow  flats  along  were  grassy  and  clean.  It 
being  quite  early,  I  suggested  to  my  chums  a  break  for  a  farm 


84       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

house.  We  took  up  the  nearest  hollow  and  after  a  half  mile  travel 
came  to  a  clearing.  No  life  was  discernible  about  the  log  build 
ings,  so  we  boldly  approached  the  house.  One  of  the  boys  was 
warmly,  though  shyly,  welcomed  by  the  lady  of  the  house,  a  mid 
dle-aged  matron,  a  young  daughter  and  two  smaller  children.  Her 
husband  and  son  were  absent  in  the  Union  Army  and  being  also 
Union  soldiers,  w£  gently  hinted  our  ability  to  eat  something  if  we 
had  it.  The  frequent  visits  of  both  armies  had  bereft  her  of  all 
visible  means  of  support  so  far  as  we  could  see ;  but  she  remarked 
that  ''two  or  three  chickens  were  left  and  if  we  would  kill  one  she 
would  prepare  us  a  meal."  It  took  some  time  to  scare  one  up.  No 
doubt  they  had  ample  cause  to  be  shy  and  wary  of  strangers.  Bound 
as  we  were  upon  a  peaceful  errand,  we  had  left  our  guns  in  camp, 
but  numbers  and  superior  stratagem  soon  told  the  story.  Some  bis 
cuits  were  baked  in  a  Dutch  oven  in  the  open  fire-place,  among  the 
coals,  and  for  color,  taste  and  lightness  were  superior  to  any  I  ever 
tasted  before  or  since.  Oh,  how  delicious !  We  ate  and  were  filled, 
and  when  we  gave  her  25  cents  apiece  for  our  dinners  she  seemed 
overjoyed  and  told  us  she  had  used  her  last  flour  to  prepare  us  that 
meal.  We  left  this  neat  and  kind  lady  with  her  love  and  devotion 
for  her  family,  her  country  and  her  defenders,  with  sad  hearts 
but  full  stomachs,  and  sincere  hopes  for  the  safe  return  of  her  hus 
band  and  son. 

Finally  one  day  the  Cumberland  Range  broke  upon  our  view. 
The  top  of  the  mountain  looked  bare  or  nearly  so,  of  a  reddish 
cast  and  stood  out  clear  cut  against  the  blue  sky.  I  got  the  im 
pression  that  it  might  have  .been  a  high  and  picturesque  mountain 
some  time,  but  had  been  pounded  down  with  an  immense  maul,  or 
stunted  in  its  growth.  The  rocks  seemed  worn  smooth  by  the  action 
of  the  elements.  They  looked  calmly  grand,  but  did  not  frown  or 
seem  to  menace. 

About  that  time  we  passed  a  company  of  Indiana  troops  on  duty. 
Their  commanding  officer  drew  them  up  at  present  arms  as  we 
passed,  while  he  deliberately  seated  himself  upon  the  ground  at  the 
head  of  his  company  to  the  great  disgust  of  our  boys  who  variously 
complimented  them  upon  their  discipline. 

We  ascended  to  the  gap  by  a  broad  well  graded  road.  We 
found  the  mountain  narrow  on  the  top  rising  by  great  slopes  two 
hundred  and  three  hundred  feet  higher  on  either  side.  The  moun 
tain  was  terraced  by  lines  of  rifle  pits  looking  southward  and  just 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee 


in  the  gap  were  some  cannon  in  bomb  proofs  having  frames  of  wood 
built  over  them  and  covered  with  earth  to  the  depth  of  two  or  three 
feet.  My  attention  was  attracted  by  a  pyramidal  stone  about  four 
feet  high,  which  some  of  the  boys  were  climbing,  so  they  could 
truthfully  say  they  had  stood  in  three  states  at  the  same  time.  Its 
sides  were  rilled  with  inscriptions  showing  that  Virginia  cornered 
there  on  the  line  between  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  Virginia  has 
here  used  one  of  the  greatest  powers  known  to  science  by  wedging 
herself  in  between  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  as  if  to  crowd  them 
off  the  mountain.  For  entertaining  this  preposterous  notion  the  Old 
Dominion  was  compelled  to  contribute  one  more  star  to  our  nation's 
flag.  As  we  halted  a  few  miles  out  from  the  gap  I  noticed  several 
boys  going  and  coming  from  an  old  log  house  some  40  or  50  rods 
from  the  road.  They  reported  a  crazy  woman  as  the  sole  inhabi 
tant.  She  appeared  to  me  the  dirtiest  and  most  utterly  wretched 
object  I  ever  saw.  Her  tongue  ran  ceaselessly.  Her  wild  look, 
long  matted  hair,  bare  arms  and  feet  made  her  an  undesirable  ac 
quaintance,  yet  she  had  seen  better  days  and  I  turned  away  with 
thoughts  that  I  shall  never  forget,  but  which  was  brought  forcibly 
to  my  mind  by  reading  a  short  sketch  of  the  late  war  in  a  recent 
number  of  the  Philadelphia  Press  entitled,  "A  Stray  Shot."  It  went 
on  to  say,  as  near  as  I  can  now  recollect,  that  during  the  first  of  the 
war  a  fight  took  place  near  Cumberland  Gap  between  Union  and 
Confederate  cavalry.  A  house  nearby  was  occupied  by  a  woman 
and  two  children,  aged,  respectively,  four  and  six  years.  During 
the  fight  in  the  fields  close  by  the  children  had  wandered  out  along 
the  fence  attracted  by  the  firing  and  shouting  of  the  charging  squad 
rons.  As  the  Confederates  withdrew  the  mother  went  in  anxious 
search  for  her  children.  She  had  looked  the  field  over  without 
success.  Darkness  coming  on  she  was  wild  with  grief  and  fear. 
Observing  a  light  she  approached  and  found  some  Union  soldiers 
looking  for  dead  and  wounded  comrades.  They  gladly  continued 
the  search  with  her  and  soon  the  glad  "Hello"  was  heard.  "Here 
they  are!"  Sure  enough  there  they  lay  cuddled  close  together  by 
the  fence  in  the  tall  grass  and  weeds  fast  asleep.  One  awoke  but 
the  other  lay  quiet  and  still  and  not  until  one  of  the  soldiers  held 
the  lantern  close  did  they  discover  a  little  hole  in  its  temple  where 
the  stray  ball  had  so  quickly  put  it  to  sleep — its  mate  unconscious 
of  the  true  state  of  affairs.  This  sudden  transition  from  joy  to 
heartrending  sorrow  was  too  much  for  the  mind  of  the  mother  to 
bear  and  she  became  at  once  a  raving  maniac.  Can  it  be  possible 


86       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

that  that  mother  was  the  same  we  saw  in  that  miserable  hut  just 
south  of  Cumberland  Gap?    It  may  be. 

Among  other  ranges  of  mountains  that  we  crossed  was  Wild 
Cat  Mountain,  the  scene  of  a  former  battle.  This  mountain  I  con 
sidered  very  appropriately  named,  for  I  do  not  remember  having 
seen  a  place  so  poorly  finished  up  as  Wild  Cat  Mountain.  In  due 
course  of  time  we  reached  Tazewell,  the  county  seat  of  Claibourne 
County.  This  was  the  first  county  seat  I  ever  saw  without  any 
buildings  at  all.  The  bare  brick  and  stone  chimneys  and  walls  were 
all  that  remained  of  a  once  pretty  mountain  village.  I  do  not  re 
member  of  seeing  one  inhabitant.  It  was  desolation  personified. 
By  whom  the  place  was  destroyed  I  never  knew.  The  country,  so 
far  as  I  could  see,  was  virtually  depopulated,  and  I  believe  a  crow 
would  have  needed  extra  rations  to  have  crossed  that  country  in 
safety. 

The  view  from  the  top  of  Clinch  Mountain  was  magnificent. 
Our  view  extended  across  three  counties  to  the  southeast,  Grainger, 
Hamblen  and  Cocke,  whose  entire  population  in  1860  was  just 
about  that  of  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

The  Smoky  Mountains  were  just  discernible  in  the  dim  dis 
tance.  We  looked  down  upon  a  vast  forest,  seemingly,  which  re 
minded  me  of  the  waves  of  the  ocean.  To  the  south  the  outlines  of 
the  mountains  and  lower  ridges  were  lost  to  view  in  the  smoky 
haze.  The  prospect  looked  forbidding  indeed  to  hungry  soldiers. 
Our  descent  was  precarious  but  rapid.  A  shelving  rock  formed 
the  road  most  of  the  way  down.  The  wagons  were  kept  upright  by 
ropes,  the  men  holding  on  and  clambering  along  the  mountain  un 
the  upper  side. 

One  of  the  beautiful  and  sequestered  streams  of  East  Tennes 
see  is  Powell  River.  As  we  crossed  on  the  bridge  I  halted  to  look 
down  into  its  even  and  pebbly  bottom,  its  clear  and  sparkling  waters. 
Its  steep  banks,  heavily  wooded,  effectually  excluded  the  rays  of  the 
sun.  I  involuntarily  thought  of  my  fish  line  and  looked  for  the 
speckled  beauties  which  I  have  no  doubt  were  there.  Clinch  River, 
a  larger  stream  of  cold  and  pure  water,  was  forded  without  mishap 
of  a  serious  nature  beyond  a  few  duckings  and  a  few  lacerated  feet 
on  the  sharp  ledge  of  rocks  which  formed  a  kind  of  apron  upon 
which  we  waded  across.  The  first  and  only  paw  paws  I  ever  saw 
we  found  upon  its  banks.  The  tree  or  bush  reminded  me  of  the 
sumac ;  and  the  fruit  looks  and  tastes  like  the  banana.  As  we  struck 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee  87 

the  valley  of  the  Holston  the  country  improved.  We  camped  near 
Morristown  on  the  railroad  and  a  hungrier  lot  of  fellows  I  had  not 
yet  seen.  A  neighboring  grist  mill  was  raided  and  the  boys  of  the 
Forty-fifth  at  least  have  reason  to  remember  our  first  supply  of 
flour  rations  in  Tennessee.  It  was  not  the  fault  of  the  cooks  that 
our  flannel  cakes  did  not  lay  quiet  upon  our  hungry  stomachs  for 
the  ingenuity  displayed  in  getting  that  flour  into  an  edible  shape 
was  simply  wonderful.  Yet  the  lack  of  seasoning  and  shortening 
had  something  to  do  with  it.  We  learned  that  the  wheat  had  grown 
or  sprouted  and  had  soured,  making  what  was  denominated  "sick 
flour,"  which  as  soon  as  swallowed  began  to  raise  and  work  like 
yeast.  Thus  our  stomachs  became  yeast  jugs  and  not  a  few  ran 
over. 

Our  march  down  the  river  to  Knoxville  was  more  endurable. 
I  \vell  remember  being  out  one  time  until  i  A.  M.,  hunting  sheep 
by  moonlight.  The  next  day  our  haversacks  had  fattened  up  con 
siderably  on  fried  mutton. 

The  wide  undulating  flats,  with  their  green  grassy  appearance, 
ornamented  quite  often  by  large  brick  dwellings,  gave  me  a  good 
impression  of  the  country.  The  fine  large  springs,  the  adjacent 
and  precipitous  hills  heavily  wooded  with  chestnut  and  rock  oak 
made  it  still  more  desirable.  We  passed  Panther  Springs,  where  a 
little  old  fashioned  grist  mill  was  run  by  its  waters  alone,  also 
Strawberry  Plains,  the  site  of  a  female  seminary.  Thus  we  reach 
Knoxville,  our  objective  point  for  the  present  and  camped  about 
one  mile  north  of  the  town. 

Our  march  of  200  miles  had  rendered  us  anything  but  corpu 
lent,  our  cartridge  box  belts  were  taken  up  to  the  last  hole,  but  with 
a  liberal  allowance  of  fresh  bread,  beef  and  pork  we  soon  made  a 
more  presentable  appearance  and  were  actually  spoiling  for  a  fight. 
Our  duties  were  light,  money  was  plenty,  foraging  and  sky-larking 
not  a  necessity,  yet  it  was  indulged  in  to  quite  an  extent.  With 
your  permission  I  will  relate  one  of  my  own  narrow  escapes,  which 
were  common  to  all  old  soldiers.  I  had  with  others  a  longing  de 
sire  to  eat  some  of  the  "garden  sass"  of  East  Tennessee.  This 
desire  grew  to  a  necessity  made  stronger  every  day  as  I  noticed  on 
my  way  to  and  from  Knoxville  a  fine  looking  garden  enclosed  by 
a  high  tight  board  fence  in  the  rear  of  a  neat  looking  house.  Se 
lecting  a  favorable  night,  myself  and  another  brave  and  daring 
spirit,  repaired  in  a  quiet  manner  to  the  above  locality.  After  a 


88       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

hurried  consultation  we  determined  to  attack  the  enemy  on  the 
rear  left  flank.  Your  humble  servant  constituted  the  skirmish  line 
while  the  heavier  line  of  battle  was  brought  up  by  accomplice.  Peer 
ing  over  the  top  of  the  fence  all  seemed  "quiet  on  the  Potomac." 
Cautiously  as  possible  I  scaled  the  fence  and  was  feeling  about  for 
vegetables,  not  forgetting  to  watch  the  back  stoop,  I  had  ventured 
within  about  30  feet  of  the  back  porch  when  I  heard  a  slight  rus 
tling  sound  issue  from  there  and  presently  a  low  growl  as  two  large 
dogs  moved  to  the  front — a  lively  imagination  making  them  just 
discernible.  I  shot  past  my  comrade  hissing  between  my  teeth 
"Dogs."  I  had  suddenly  changed  my  mind  about  caring  for  any 
garden  truck  that  night.  At  a  safe  distance  outside  my  comrade 
joined  me,  where  we  surveyed  the  field  congratulating  ourselves 
upon  our  miraculous  escape  and  adding  to  our  stock  of  experience 
some  valuable  lessons — but  no  vegetables. 

Engagement  at  Blue  Springs 

Finally,  it  was  reported  that  a  large  force  of  Confederates  under 
command  of  Major  General  Sam  Jones  were  concentrating  at  or 
near  Greenville,  for  an  attack  on  Burnside.  The  menacing  attitude 
of  these  forces  soon  cut  short  our  stay  in  this  pleasant  camp ;  for  at 
three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  October  3d  (just  six  days  after 
our  arrival),  we  received  orders  to  be  ready  to  march  at  8  A.  M., 
in  light  marching  order,  with  five  days'  rations  and  40  rounds  of 
ammunition.  Promptly  at  the  appointed  hour  we  marched  to  the 
line  of  the  East  Tennessee  &  Virginia  Railroad  and  after  consid 
erable  delay  (unaccountable  to  us),  we  boarded  a  train  of  box  and 
flat  cars  and  were  soon  slowly  moving  up  the  line  toward  Bull's 
Gap,  about  60  miles  from  Knoxville,  where  we  arrived  late  in  the 
afternoon,  alighted  and  camped  for  the  night  with  the  other  regi 
ments  of  our  brigade.  The  next  day,  October  4th,  the  First  Bri 
gade  marched  four  miles  beyond  Bull's  Gap  and  encamped  in  the 
fields  near  the  roadside.  Here  we  found  some  of  the  troops  of  the 
Twenty-third  Corps,  who  had  preceded  us,  two  regiments  of  Gen 
eral  Shackelford's  cavalry,  and  a  regiment  of  Tennessee  infantry, 
who  reported  the  enemy  posted  in  a  strong  position  at  Blue  Springs, 
about  three  miles  from  our  camp,  closely  watched  by  their  cavalry 
pickets.  We  remained  here  until  the  loth,  evidently  waiting  for 
reinforcements,  for  the  conditions  savored  strongly  of  a  fight.  On 
the  morning  of  October  loth  we  marched  out  of  this  camp  with 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee 


the  weird  music  of  Scotch  bagpipes  as  an  accompaniment,  the  Seven 
ty-ninth  New  York  (Highlanders)  being  in  the  lead.  We  marched 
leisurely,  vacating  the  road  several  times  for  squadrons  of  cavalry 
to  pass  to  the  rear,  and  once  a  battery  of  artillery  passed  to  the 
front.  It  was  nearing  noon  when  the  sound  of  artillery  firing  in 
front  told  us  the  engagement  at  Blue  Springs  was  on. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  we  were  halted  on  the  road  to  let 
General  Burnside  and  staff  pass  to  the  front,  and  as  usual,  he  had 
no  use  for  a  head  covering  while  passing  his  old  line  troops  of  the 
first  division;  for  we  always  gave  him  the  glad  welcome  in  no  un 
certain  tones.  The  sound  of  artillery  firing  increased  and  our  pace 
was  quickened.  We  soon  passed  through  a  strip  of  woodland 
through  which  the  road  ran,  filed  to  the  left  a  short  distance  from 
the  road  and  halted,  with  the  other  regiments  of  the  brigade  near 
by.  We  were  left  in  this  position  till  about  the  middle  of  the  after 
noon.  Out  on  our  front  across  the  road  (which  bore  away  to  the 
left  here),  and  to  the  right  and  left,  was  open  field,  which  extended 
to  the  base  of  a  wooded  ridge,  distant  about  four  or  five  hundred 
yards.  Some  of  the  troops  of  the  Twenty-third  Corps,  principally 
cavalry  and  mounted  infantry,  with  several  batteries  of  artillery 
had  been  engaging  the  enemy  nearly  all  day.  The  Rebels  offered 
a  stubborn  resistance,  holding  them  in  check  at  all  points.  Finally, 
about  4  P.  M.,  General  Fererro  was  ordered  to  move  up  the  First 
Division  of  the  Ninth  Corps  and  endeavor  to  drive  out  the  enemy 
from  the  woods  on  his  front  and  break  the  center  of  their  line. 
Upon  receipt  of  this  order  the  Forty-fifth,  led  by  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Francis  M.  Hills,  was  immediately  ordered  forward  into  the  wooded 
ridge,  where  we  were  deployed  as  skirmishers  to  cover  the  front  of 
the  First  Brigade,  relieving  the  dismounted  cavalry  on  that  part  of 
the  line,  who  withdrew  silently  from  our  front  and  passed  through 
our  line  to  the  rear.  We  had  not  yet  come  in  touch  with  the  John 
nies  and  did  not  know  just  where  they  were,  and  we  didn't  care  to 
have  them  know  where  we  were,  for  we  wanted  our  introduction 
to  be  sudden  and  short,  knowing  it  would  not  be  sweet  or  pleas 
ant,  however  warm  it  might  be.  Thus  we  lay  there  resting  quietly 
(and  perhaps  thinking  seriously)  while  waiting  for  the  formation 
of  our  lines  in  rear,  and  the  order  to  advance.  This  consumed  con 
siderable  time ;  but  the  waiting  suspense  was  changed  suddenly  into 
quick  activity  about  five  o'clock,  when  the  order  in  crisp,  yet  low 
distinct  tones,  passed  rapidly  along  our  line,  "Attention !  Skirmish 
ers,  Forward  Guide— Center,  Quick  March."  Instantly  our  line 


90       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

pushed  up  swiftly  through  the  wooded  ridge  and  soon  emerged 
near  the  summit  into  an  open  field.  Still  on  the  thin  line  swept 
up  over  the  summit;  and  as  we  began  to  descend  the  more  gentle 
slope  beyond,  we  received  a  fierce  hot  fire  from  a  strong  line  of 
the  enemy  posted  at  the  edge  of  another  big  strip  of  woods,  not 
much  over  a  hundred  yards  distant.  Our  line  halted  and  stood  firm 
in  the  open,  returning  a  deliberate  fire  at  the  partially  concealed 
Rebels  for  a  fewr  moments,  when  above  the  crack  of  our  noisy 
Springfields  there  rang  out  this  clear  command — "Forward !"  which 
I  believe  came  from  our  nervy  cool-headed  Lieutenant  Colonel  F. 
M.  Hills,  who  was  always  found  on  the  firing  line  directing  his 
men  when  in  action.  The  whole  line  promptly  dashed  forward  on 
a  run  toward  the  enemy  and  before  we  had  covered  more  than  half 
the  intervening  space,  the  whole  Rebel  line  on  our  front  fled  in  con 
fusion  through  the  woods,  pursued  by  our  line  in  unbroken  front, 
after  resuming  again  the  quick  time  march  to  preserve  our  align 
ment,  firing  at  intervals  at  the  retreating  Rebels  \vhenever  oppor 
tunity  presented.  We  had  thus  broken  their  center  and  driven 
everything  in  on  our  front,  to  and  beyond  the  batteries  on  their 
reserve  line,  which  we  unmasked  just  before  dark.  Twro  of  these 
batteries  opened  on  us  with  a  sharp  fire  of  shell  and  canister  after 
our  line  had  been  halted  by  orders  from  General  Fererro.  We 
were  then  within  250  yards  of  their  guns.  Notwithstanding  this, 
we  suffered  no  serious  loss  from  their  noisy  cannonade ;  our  left 
being  well  protected  by  woods  and  our  right,  in  the  open,  by  a 
ravine.  We  remained  in  line  in  this  position  all  night,  with  pick 
ets  thrown  out  in  front.  Preparations  were  made  to  attack  again 
at  daylight,  but  when  morning  came  we  found  the  enemy  had  gone. 
The  cavalry  was  sent  in  hot  pursuit,  with  our  First  Brigade  follow 
ing  suit.  We  followed  them  to  Rheatown,  north  of  Greenville,  20 
miles  from  Blue  Springs.  On  this  march  we  saw  much  evidence 
of  sharp  maneuvering  and  running  fights  by  the  cavalry,  cross 
fences  thrown  down,  splintered  and  torn  where  stands  were  made, 
and  those  by  the  roadside  bore  the  evidence  of  flying  missiles  de 
livered  in  running  fights.  This  and  the  occasional  sight  of  a  dead 
cavalryman  in  blue  or  gray,  told  us  plainly  the  stirring  nature  of 
the  pursuit.  The  enemy  continued  its  retreat  to  the  borders  of 
Virginia  pretty  well  scattered  and  pursued  by  our  cavalry.  The 
Ninth  Corps  was  ordered  back  to  Knoxville.  We  marched  back 
through  Greenville  to  Henderson  Station,  where  we  got  aboard 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee  91 

cars  and  reached  Knoxville,  and  our  old  camp,  in  the  evening  of 
November  I4th. 

While  here  a  little  of  the  interesting  history  of  Parson  Brown- 
low,  the  fighting  parson,  came  under  my  notice  which  I  wish  to 
relate.  My  chum,  James  E.  Catlin,  must  have  been  preoccupied 
that  day  for  I  was  alone  and  went  into  town  on  a  new  street  in 
the  western  part  of  the  town.  As  I  approached  Main  street  I  saw 
a  troop  of  cavalry,  escorting  a  closed  carriage,  turn  and  come  down 
the  street  toward  me.  I  halted  at  the  fence  for  them  to  pass,  but 
as  they  came  to  a  plain  wood  colored  building  a  few  rods  from  me 
they  halted  and  an  old  man  alighted.  From  a  picture  I  had  seen 
I  recognized  Parson  Brownlow.  His  black  servants  greeted  him 
warmly  and  he  seemed  glad  to  get  home.  I  think  the  next  day 
Captain  Chase  handed  me  a  copy  of  the  Knoxville  Whig,  wherein 
Brownlow  informed  the  people  of  Knoxville  that  he  had  kept  his 
promise,  viz.,  that  in  just  two  years  from  the  time  of  his  banish 
ment  he  would  return  to  Knoxville  and  again  issue  the  "Knoxville 
Whig."  Brownlow  was  a  man  of  strong  convictions,  an  ardent 
Union  man  and  rather  belligerent  withal.  The  strongest  and  most 
fiery  epithets  were  hurled  with  all  his  power  at  his  cowardly  politi 
cal  enemies.  Through  the  columns  of  the  "Whig"  no  hell  was  deep 
enough  or  hot  enough  into  which  he  would  consign  the  enemies 
of  his  country,  who  threatened  his  life,  arrested  and  confined  him 
in  his  own  house.  Still  he  defied  them.  Kill  him,  they  dare  not, 
for  his  family  would  raise  up  to  take  his  place.  Finally  he  was 
forced  to  cross  the  Ohio  making  that  pathetic  promise  which  he 
so  truthfully  and  almost  miraculously  fulfilled. 

Some  time  after  our  return  from  Blue  Springs  we  left  Knox 
ville  and  followed  the  railroad  south  to  Lenoir  Station,  about  28 
miles  from  Knoxville.  Here  we  were  ordered  to  build  huts  for 
the  winter.  In  one  week  we  had  completed  our  camp.  Our  huts 
were  models  of  comfort.  The  rock  oak  of  Tennessee  could  be 
split  into  boards  or  planks  with  which  our  officers'  quarters  were 
erected,  some  of  them  being  quite  artistic  in  design.  We  had  set 
tled  clown  to  real  comfortable  camp  life;  in  fact  we,  the  common 
soldiers,  expected  to  stay  there  during  the  winter.  We  did  not 
know  that  General  Longstreet  was  even  then  meditating  the  cap 
ture  of  Burnside's  forces,  thus  interfering  with  our  well  laid  plans 
for  a  quiet  winter.  The  news  of  his  advance  reached  us  about  i 
A.  M.,  November  I4th.  It  was  very  dark  and  a  very  wet  and  quiet 


92       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

rain  was  falling  as  the  long  roll  sounded  and  the  commands  rang 
through  our  streets,  "Pack,  up,  pack  up."  Our  dog  tents  were 
wrung  out  and  hurriedly  packed  and  I  think  that  within  30  minutes 
we  were  in  line,  ready  to  march. 

The  Retreat  from  Lenoir 

The  rain  continued  and  we  were  ordered  to  stack  arms,  with 
tompions  in  guns,  and  await  further  orders.  The  rain  increased 
and  the  forenoon  passed.  Finally  at  twelve  o'clock  (noon),  in  a 
drenching  rain  storm  we  marched  out  from  our  snug  winter  camp 
headed  for  Loudon  and  the  enemy,  then  crossing  the  Tennessee 
River  at  Huff's  Ferry  below,  about  eight  miles  distant.  We  reached 
Loudon  about  3  P.  M.,  and  were  placed  in  position  to  support 
White's  troops  of  the  Twenty-third  Corps,  who  were  engaged  with 
the  enemy.  As  night  came  on  our  brigade  marched  a  short  dis 
tance,  deployed  in  line  of  battle  and  remained  there  all  night,  with 
orders  not  to  sleep  as  the  enemy  was  on  our  front.  The  rain  con 
tinued  to  drizzle  all  night  and  for  our  comfort  we  had  the  choice 
of  two  alternatives,  lie  on  the  soaked  ground  or  stand  up  in  the  rain. 
The  lowering  clouds,  drizzling  rain  and  impenetrable  darkness  that 
prevailed  over  all  no  doubt  prevented  the  enemy  from  disturbing 
us,  for  they  were  present  in  greatly  superior  numbers  on  our  front 
and  right.  'Twas  thus  we  uncomplainingly  worried  through  that 
miserable  night. 

At  early  dawn  we  began  moving  back  to  Lenoir's,  preceded  by 
our  artillery,  still  raining  in  occasional  gusty  showers,  just  suffi 
cient  to  keep  us  comfortably  cool,  roads  terribly  cut  up  by  the  pas 
sage  of  our  artillery,  and  the  mud  ankle  deep,  with  no  choice  of 
footing.  It  was  Sunday,  but  the  conditions  with  us  were  not  favor 
able  for  the  expression  of  religious  sentiments  and  if  the  contrary 
prevailed,  I  think  it  excusable  in  this  instance.  We  reached  Lenoir's 
about  3  P.  M.,  and  the  first  division  under  Fererro  was  placed  in 
position  on  a  ridge  opposite  our  winter  camp,  facing  west,  with  a 
line  of  skirmishers  thrown  out  to  cover  all  approaches  from  that 
direction.  About  4  P.  M.,  the  enemy's  skirmishers  in  strong  force 
appeared  in  our  front  and  attempted  to  push  in  our  advance,  but 
were  soon  checked  by  the  fire  of  our  skirmishers  and  a  few  shells 
from  Roemer's  battery.  Soon  after  this  some  changes  were  made 
in  the  line  of  the  First  Brigade,  which  placed  the  Forty-fifth  in  a 
woods,  on  the  left  of  a  road  that  led  over  the  ridge  westward,  and 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee  93 

as  night  was  closing  in,  the  skirmish  line  on  our  brigade  front,  un 
der  command  of  Lieutenant  Ephraim  Jeffers,  of  Company  G,  was 
drawn  in  closer  to  the  main  line.  Under  these  conditions  we  en 
tered  upon  our  second  night  of  sleepless,  watchful  vigil,  with  low 
ering  clouds  overhead  and  the  somber  gloom  of  the  woods  and 
night  enveloping  us  in  impenetrable  darkness. 

About  10:30  P.  M.,  the  enemy  crept  up  in  the  darkness  and  at 
tempted  to  drive  in  our  skirmishers,  but  were  repulsed  and  quiet 
reigned  during  the  remainder  of  the  night. 

About  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  :6th  our  division  with 
drew  quietly  from  the  lines  at  Lenoir  and  began  the  march  up  the 
Lenoir  road  on  the  way  to  Knoxville,  marching  in  the  following 
order:  The  Second  Brigade  in  advance,  followed  by  the  First 
(ours),  with  the  Third  Brigade,  under  Colonel  Humphrey,  cover 
ing  the  rear.  General  Hartranft's  division  with  the  artillery  had 
gone  on  during  the  night,  and  by  morning  had  covered  the  junc 
tion  of  the  Lenoir  and  Kingston  roads,  thus  securing  our  line  of 
retreat  and  the  protection  of  our  wagon  train  that  preceded  us. 

The  enemy  followed  us  at  once  but  showed  no  disposition  to 
press  us  until  within  two  miles  of  Campbell  Station,  when  they  be 
gan  to  press  heavily  on  the  rear  but  were  held  in  check  by  Humph 
rey.  When  we  had  nearly  reached  the  junction  of  the  Lenoir  and 
Kingston  roads,  Humphrey's  brigade  was  placed  hurriedly  in  posi 
tion  across  the  Lenoir  road,  facing  south,  to  hold  in  check  the  enemy 
still  pressing  our  rear  from  that  direction,  while  our  brigade  under 
Colonel  Morrison  connected  on  their  right,  facing  west,  and  reach 
ing  to  the  Kingston  road,  thus  forming  a  right  angle,  covering  the 
junction.  In  this  position  we  became  sharply  engaged  with  the 
enemy  for  about  40  minutes,  holding  them  in  check  to  cover  the 
retirement  of  one  of  Hartranft's  brigades  and  a  battery  of  artillery, 
coming  in  on  the  Kingston  road,  followed  by  McLaws'  division  of 
Confederate  infantry,  which  was  then  advancing  in  solid  line  of 
battle  from  the  west,  with  no  skirmishers  preceding  them. 

At  the  same  time  a  part  of  Humphrey's  brigade,  with  a  volley 
and  cheer,  charged  the  enemy  on  their  front,  driving  them  back  a 
short  distance  on  the  Lenoir  road.  This  was  the  last  stand  made 
to  cover  the  retirement  of  troops  past  the  junction  of  roads  men 
tioned  and  was  very  timely  as  well  as  successful.  The  two  bri 
gades  under  orders  were  immediately  retired  in  good  order  to  the 
new  line  established  beyond  the  creek  at  Campbell  Station,  where  our 


94       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

brigade  was  placed  in  position  on  the  right.  The  enemy  consumed 
much  time  in  their  preparations  for  advance,  but  when  they  did 
advance,  their  lines  soon  overlapped  ours  on  both  flanks  and  we 
soon  found  it  expedient  to  fall  back  to  a  still  higher  elevation  over 
which  the  road  ran,  with  a  fine  view  in  our  front.  There  were  no 
heavy  engagements  that  night,  but  a  steady  skirmish  was  kept  up 
and  our  lines  fell  back  slowly.  By  3  P.  M.  they  advanced  in  two 
lines  of  battle  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  extent,  I  should  judge.  Our 
batteries  played  upon  them  with  good  effect  but  did  not  seriously 
impede  them.  The  firing  was  brisk  on  the  skirmish  line  all  the 
time,  but  I  don't  remember  of  any  heavy  engagements  that  after 
noon.  We  also  got  some  guns  in  position  toward  night  that  did 
some  damage.  How  we  longed  for  night.  We  knew  it  was  our 
only  chance.  By  dark  we  were  hard  pressed,  for  I  could  see  their 
lines  overlapping  ours.  They  were  well  around  our  flanks.  You 
may  imagine  one  narrow  muddy  road  jammed  full  with  a  retreat 
ing  army,  on  a  dark  night.  Thus,  more  dead  than  alive  we  reached 
Knoxville  5  A.  M.,  the  i/th,  and  lay  down  in  our  places  for  a  little 
rest,  but  before  long  we  were  busy  with  pick  and  shovel.  At  the 
end  of  a  week  our  works  were  completed.  Skirmishing  and  the 
attempt  of  the  enemy  to  advance  and  extend  their  lines  were  of 
daily  occurrence  and  sometimes  were  very  severe.  Our  outer  for 
tifications  were  formidable;  outside  the  line  of  rifle  pits,  tree  tops 
trimmed  of  all  small  limbs  and  piled  close  together  pointing  out- 
ivard.  On  top  of  our  pits  were  placed  two  logs  with  loop  holes.  In 
our  rear  were  other  lines  of  rifle  pits  and  still  back  near  the  town 
our  batteries  on  higher  ground.  Knoxville  is  situated  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Holston  River  and  our  lines  encompassed  it  on  the  west. 
The  Forty-fifth  occupied  the  extreme  left  next  to  the  river  south  of 
the  town.  Aside  from  a  number  of  severe  shellings,  no  fighting 
took  place  on  our  part  of  the  line.  Scarcity  of  rations  was  a  great 
inconvenience.  I  bought  bread  of  citizens.  Toward  the  end  of 
the  siege  we  received  shipments  of  fresh  pork  from  the  loyal  people 
east  of  the  river,  which  they  rafted  down  the  river  under  cover  of 
darkness.  I  remember  going  out  on  picket  several  mornings  with 
short  rations  of  fried  fresh  pork  with  no  salt  as  our  entire  rations 
for  the  day  and  night,  glad  to  get  that.  Our  facilities  for  foraging 
were  few  and  extremely  hazardous.  One  day  a  cow  was  allowed 
to  innocently  wander  to  our  lines  along  the  river  bank.  She  never 
returned  alive,  but  Company  K  had  beef.  So  of  a  fine  porker  whose 
owner  kept  a  vigilant  eye  upon  him  day  and  night.  But  one  dark 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee  95 

night,  by  some  strategy  I  never  knew  about,  that  fine  pig  disap 
peared  and  was  never  seen  again  by  its  owner,  although  he  lived 
only  about  15  rods  in  the  rear  of  our  line  and  his  hog  pen  joined 
his  house.  Some  ludicrous  things  happened  on  the  picket  line  as 
well  as  in  camp,  of  which  I  will  relate  only  one.  Across  the  river 
and  opposite  the  extreme  left  of  our  picket  line  is  a  rocky  and  pre 
cipitous  hill.  Our  pickets  had  dug  pits  along  the  line  a  few  rods 
apart  sufficient  to  screen  two  or  three  men.  The  flat  was  quite  level 
back  from  the  river  for  perhaps  about  60  rods.  One  day  as  our 
pickets  were  lounging  about  they  were  surprised  to  hear  a  rifle  ball 
whiz  close  to  them,  and  bury  itself  in  the  sand  at  their  feet.  They 
soon  discovered  the  enemy  well  up  on  the  mountain  and  firing  down 
at  them  at  an  angle  of  about  45  degrees.  The  pits  close  by  gave 
them  no  security  so  they  cut  loose  for  a  more  secure  place.  A  num 
ber  of  rods  out  from  the  river  the  head  man  piled  into  a  hole,  and 
as  they  came  up  each  one  on  top  of  his  predecessor,  the  last  man 
simply  shielding  those  under  him.  Contrary  to  the  general  order 
of  things  it  began  to  get  interesting  for  the  top  man.  His  only 
refuge  seemed  to  be  a  large  tree  some  20  rods  to  the  westward  and 
this  he  determined  to  reach,  for  the  Rebel  sharpshooters  were  get 
ting  his  range  almost  perfect.  Bounding  to  his  feet  he  buckled  to 
it  reaching  the  tree  in  safety.  The  Johnnies  enjoyed  it  hugely,  but 
the  next  day  they  had  to  retreat.  Our  batteries  shelled  them  out. 
Our  camp  life  was  quiet.  In  fact  we  began  to  think  that  our  chances 
were  slim  for  getting  out  of  Tennessee  except  via  Richmond.  This 
was  freely  talked  of  by  our  regiment  and  company  officers,  yet  we 
had  great  confidence  in  General  Burnside.  Starvation  or  capture 
was  actually  staring  us  in  the  face.  I  was  not  surprised  therefore 
to  find  that  a  vacancy  existed  in  my  internal  commissary  depart 
ment  that  nothing  would  fill  better  than  a  little  parched  corn.  I 
made  this  discovery  one  dark  evening  and  immediately  repaired  to 
the  stables.  I  was  in  time,  the  crunching  of  corn  was  plainly  heard. 
Avoiding  the  darky  hostlers  who  were  gathered  about  the  fires  in 
an  adjoining  room  I  carefully  took  one  or  two  ears  from  each  mule 
or  horse  by  reaching  through  between  the  logs.  Only  once  was  I 
noticed  as  a  mule  jumped  back  at  the  sight  of  my  arm. 

"What's  de  matter  wid  dat  mule  dah,"  exclaimed  the  old  darkey; 
but  as  I  kept  quiet  he  again  seated  himself  and  I  returned  to  quar 
ters  to  have  a  real  treat  which  the  boys  enjoyed  with  me,  and  no 
questions  asked. 


96       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

On  the  eve  of  November  28th  we  were  ordered  to  be  more  vigi 
lant.  Every  man  was  in  the  pits;  evidently  something  was  going 
to  happen.  We  looked  for  an  assault  on  our  lines  somewhere.  Dur 
ing  that  long  and  dreary  night  just  before  daybreak  Sergeant  Cat- 
lin  drew  my  attention  to  a  queer  pattering  sound  that  came  up 
from  across  the  river.  It  proved  to  be  a  heavy  force  of  Rebel  cavalry 
picketing  their  horses.  (General  John  T.  Morgan  with  two  bri 
gades  of  cavalry,  that  afternoon,  reported  to  General  E.  M.  Law, 
who  was  in  command  of  Rebel  forces  on  the  south  side  of  the 
river.)  It  was  daybreak.  All  was  quiet  in  front  when  all  at  once 
the  roar  of  small  arms  with  an  occasional  cannon  shot  broke  upon 
our  ears  from  our  right.  \Ye  knew  the  crisis  had  come  and  I  for 
one  was  busy  thinking  of  the  possible  consequences.  Soon  the 
firing  ceased  and  the  news  ran  along  the  line.  The  enemy  had 
been  repulsed  at  Fort  Sanders.  Instead  of  going  up  to  see  the 
field  as  many  of  the  boys  did  I  took  a  bee  line  for  the  city  to  get 
my  boots  repaired  for  I  knew  we  would  have  some  marching  to 
do  right  away.  Longstreet's  army  was  soon  after  on  its  way 
North  and  our  troops  in  pursuit.  The  effects  of  the  battle  I  got 
from  eye  witnesses  under  flag  of  truce  and  its  details  from  almost 
every  one  I  saw.  Fort  Sanders  as  I  remembered  it  was  an  earth 
work,  330x240  feet,  perhaps,  on  the  top  mounting  ten  cannon.  On 
three  sides  it  was  surrounded  by  a  ditch  about  ten  feet  deep  from 
the  bottom  of  which  to  the  top  of  the  fort  was  20  feet  and  very 
steep.  Telegraph  wire  was  firmly  strung  close  to  the  edge  of  the 
ditch  and  about  six  inches  high.  (See  Benjamin's  report.)  As  the 
front  line  of  the  enemy  reached  the  wire  they  pitched  headlong  into 
the  ditch.  They  wavered  but  the  oncoming  lines  forced  more  over. 
Longstreet  had  hurled  seven  or  eight  of  his  best  regiments  and  be 
coming  demoralized  at  first  at  seeing  so  many  disappear  and  go 
down  on  the  front  line  I  understood  it  was  w^ith  great  difficulty 
the  Rebel  officers  could  prevent  an  immediate  rout.  The  fort 
swarmed  with  our  men  who  with  axes  and  bayonets  fought  back 
those  who  succeeded  in  getting  near  the  top  while  others  lighted 
and  tossed  hand  grenades  over  into  the  struggling  mass.  The 
struggle  was  short.  Every  Rebel  that  got  into  that  ditch  was  either 
killed  or  captured.  Their  loss  was  reported  to  be  800,  about  200 
being  killed  and  wounded.  On  my  way  back  to  the  regiment  I 
saw  the  prisoners  in  a  stockade.  I  took  them  to  be  Tennesseeans 
for  they  were  tall,  fine  looking  men,  many  of  them  I  understood 
were  citizens  of  Knoxville  and  hence  had  a  double  motive  for  mak- 


Campaigning  in  East  Tennessee  97 

ing  the  assault  a  success.  We  followed  Longstreet  some  50  miles 
north  when  he  turned  upon  us  and  we  retreated  several  miles  with 
out  battle. 

Some  fighting  took  place  farther  to  the  right  in  our  hearing, 
but  we  saw  no  more  of  him  and  fell  back  to  Elaine's  Crossroads, 
40  miles  north  of  Knoxville  and  went  into  winter  quarters  with 
the  country  as  our  principal  commissary.  On  January  ist,  1864, 
nearly  all  of  the  Forty-fifth  re-enlisted.  Our  foot  gear  and  wear 
ing  apparel  was  not  commensurate  with  our  needs  at  that  time  of 
the  year.  The  ground  had  frozen  to  the  depth  of  four  inches  and 
a  snow  had  fallen.  We  left  Tennessee  with  no  vain  regrets,  for 
after  I  had  thought  about  it  for  a  spell  I  felt  very  well  satisfied 
to  go  home  and  see  my  best  girl  awhile.  Our  homeward  journey 
was  without  mishap.  Some  of  the  boys  had  supplied  themselves 
with  rawhide  moccasins  for  the  march.  But  before  noon  as  the 
roads  tha\ved  out  they  lost  all  semblance  to  moccasins  and  had  to 
be  abandoned.  As  we  reached  Barboursville  and  encamped  for  the 
night  nearly  the  whole  regiment  made  it  the  occasion  to  celebrate 
our  exit  from  Tennessee.  However,  we  were  all  right  the  next 
morning.  I  noticed  after  we  passed  town  a  great  number  of  new 
frying  pans  strapped  to  the  boys'  knapsacks.  Two  or  three  miles 
out  Colonel  Curtin  halted  the  regiment  while  the  owner  passed 
along  and  gathered  in  his  pans.  That  was  about  the  last  chance 
the  boys  had.  The  sight  of  a  dead  mule  had  ceased  to  attract  our 
attention  and  under  the  stimulus  of  seeing  friends  and  home  with 
the  help  of  many  a  canteen  of  apple  jack,  we  joyfully  and  merrily 
retraced  our  steps  toward  the  land  of  schoolhouses,  churches  and 
a  people  who  it  seemed  to  me  were  imbued  with  a  higher  apprecia 
tion  of  the  object  and  aims  of  life  and  above  all  else  more  loyal 
to  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 


98       Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  ITINERARY  OF  THE  EAST  TENNESSEE 
CAMPAIGN 

BY  LIEUTENANT  THOMAS  J.  DAVIES. 

The  following  is  a  brief  narrative  itinerary  of  the  Forty-fifth 
Regiment  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry,  embracing  all  the 
marches  and  important  military  movements  and  engagements  of  the 
regiment  in  the  East  Tennessee  campaign  from  August  25th,  1863, 
to  January  i6th,  1864,  and  the  return  home  on  furlough  after  re- 
enlistment.  Compiled  by  Lieutenant  T.  J.  Davies  from  daily  diaries, 
notes  and  letters  written  at  the  time. 

August  25th,  1863.  The  Forty-fifth  Regiment  was  encamped 
near  Nicholasville,  Ky.  Owing  to  casualties  and  sickness  incident 
to  the  Mississippi  campaign  it  numbered  less  than  200  men  present 
for  duty  at  that  date.  It  was  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Francis  M.  Hills  and  was  a  part  of  the  First  Brigade,  First  Division, 
Ninth  Corps,  consisting  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts,  Eighth 
Michigan,  Seventy-ninth  New  York  and  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania, 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  David  Morrison  of  the  Seventy-ninth 
New  York.  The  brigade  numbered  about  1,000,  including  officers, 
and  in  nearly  all  the  subsequent  movements  and  actions  during  this 
campaign  it  was  directed  and  operated  as  a  unit  against  the  enemy. 

August  27th.     Forty-fifth  marched  to  Lancaster,  Ky. 

August  28th.  Marched  to  Crab  Orchard,  Ky.,  33  miles  from 
Nicholasville,  and  encamped  there  for  12  days,  awaiting  the  assem 
bling  of  the  remainder  of  the  first  division  and  the  supply  train. 
About  65  convalescent  sick  joined  us  here,  also  a  few  who  returned 
from  furloughs  home. 

September  loth.  The  regiment  started  on  the  march  over  the 
mountains  for  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  carrying  eight  days'  rations,  and 
40  rounds  of  ammunition  per  man,  and  all  our  personal  effects  on 
our  backs.  After  marching  three  days  over  hilly,  rocky,  miserable 
roads,  we  encamped  about  three  miles  north  of  London,  Ky.,  on 
the  evening  of  the  twelfth;  the  first  stage  of  our  journey,  having 
marched  42  miles. 

September  i3th.     Remained  in  camp.     Signed  the  pay  rolls. 


Second  Lieut.  Thomas  J.  Davies 
Company   G 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  99 

September  I4th.  Started  at  5  A.  M.  After  passing  through 
London  met  2,200  Rebel  prisoners  captured  at  Cumberland  Gap, 
on  their  way  north  under  guard.  Roads  in  better  condition. 
Marched  15  miles. 

September  i5th.  Started  at  5  A.  M.  Marched  to  Barbours- 
ville,  the  county  seat  of  Knox  County,  Ky.,  on  the  Cumberland 
River;  distance,  15  miles. 

September  i6th.  Started  at  5  A.  M.  Marched  up  the  Cumber 
land  River  ten  miles  to  Flat  Lick  and  encamped.  Received  two 
months'  pay.  Second  stage  of  march,  covering-  40  miles. 

September  I7th.  Remained  here  waiting  for  supply  train  to 
come  up.  Heavy  rain  storm  came  on.  Rained  all  night. 

September  i8th.  Still  in  camp.  Raining,  soaking  everything, 
except  our  cartridges  and  greenbacks. 

September  I9th.  Moved  at  6  A.  M.  Marched  14  miles  and 
camped.  Evening  cold  and  chilly. 

September  2oth.  Marched  at  6  A.  M.  Reached  Cumberland 
Gap  about  noon.  Encamped  about  one  mile  south  of  Gap.  Dis 
tance,  14  miles. 

East  Tennessee 

September  2ist.  Started  at  5:30  A.  M.  Reached  Tazewell, 
Claibourne  County,  by  noon.  Crossed  Powell  River,  then  Clinch 
Mountain,  over  rocky,  shelving  roads;  dangerous  for  the  passage 
of  wagons  and  artillery.  Encamped  within  two  miles  of  Clinch 
River.  Marched  20  miles.  Posted  pickets;  the  first  on  this  march. 

September  22d.  Moved  at  5  A.  M.  Forded  Clinch  River. 
Emerged  from  foothills  into  the  Holston  Valley,  forded  the  Holston 
River;  reached  Morristown  on  the  Virginia  and  East  Tennessee 
Railroad  at  sundown ;  marched  22  miles ;  the  third  stage  of  march, 
covering  70  miles. 

September  23d.     Resting  in  camp. 

September  24th.  Broke  camp  at  i  P.  M.,  enroute  for  Knox- 
ville.  Marched  beyond  Panther  Springs  and  camped  by  the  road 
side  at  8  P.  M.  Weather  fair;  roads  dusty. 

September  25th.  Marched  at  daylight.  Stopped  an  hour  at 
Strawberry  Plains  for  dinner.  Marched  20  miles.  Encamped  at 
sundown. 


ioo     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

September  26th.  Moved  at  daylight.  Reached  the  vicinity  of 
Knoxville  about  1 1  A.  M.  Encamped  in  woods  one  mile  northeast 
of  town  and  half  mile  from  Holston  River.  Distance  from  Morris- 
town  to  Knoxville  40  miles.  Total  from  Nicholasville,  Ky.,  225 
miles. 

We  remained  in  camp  at  Knoxville  six  days.  The  enemy  were 
reported  as  concentrating  in  a  threatening  attitude  at  Blue  Springs, 
near  Greenville. 

October  3d.  At  3  A.  M.,  regiment  aroused  and  ordered  to  be 
ready  to  move  at  8  A.  M.,  in  light  marching  order  with  five  days' 
rations  in  haversacks  and  40  rounds  of  ammunition  per  man. 
Promptly  at  8  A.  M.,  marched  to  line  of  railway,  entrained,  and 
were  transported  to  Bull's  Gap,  about  60  miles  northward. 

October  4th.  Marched  four  miles  farther  toward  Blue  Springs 
and  encamped  with  the  other  regiments  of  the  brigade.  Remained 
here  five  days.  Our  cavalry  in  touch  with  the  enemy;  some  skirm 
ishing  near  Blue  Springs. 

October  loth.  Marched  to  Blue  Springs  (about  five  miles).  At 
5  P.  M.,  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  was  deployed  as  skirmishers 
covering  the  front  of  the  First  Brigade  and  later  moved  forward 
into  action,  charged  on  Rebel  center,  broke  their  line,  drove  it  back 
a  third  of  a  mile  onto  their  reserves  in  support  of  their  batteries, 
uncovering  the  latter  just  at  the  moment  we  were  ordered  to  halt 
by  orders  from  General  Fererro.  It  was  now  getting  dark.  We 
remained  in  line  where  we  were  all  night.  The  loss  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  Pennsylvania  in  this  engagement  in  killed  and  wounded  was 
22 ;  none  captured  or  missing. 

October  nth  (Sunday.)  Found  the  enemy  had  retreated  dur 
ing  the  night.  We  marched  in  pursuit  to  Rheatown,  20  miles  from 
Blue  Springs. 

October  I2th.  Remained  at  Rheatown.  Our  cavalry  still  fol 
lowing  enemy  toward  Virginia  line. 

October  I3th.  We  are  ordered  back  to  Knoxville.  Marched 
back  through  Greenville  to  Henderson  Station,  a  distance  of  16 
miles,  and  encamped. 

October  I4th.  Boarded  cars  for  Knoxville.  Reached  our  old 
camp  near  Knoxville  in  the  evening  and  remained  there  during  the 
next  five  days. 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  101 

October  2Oth  (Tuesday.)  Marched  at  7  A.  M.,  southward. 
At  noon  heard  cannonading  in  the  direction  of  London.  Encamped 
at  sundown.  Marched  15  miles. 

October  2ist.  Started  at  6  A.  M.  Commenced  to  rain  at  ten 
o'clock  and  continued  all  day.  Camped  (near  Lenoir  Station),  at 
ii  A.  M.,  with  orders  to  remain  until  next  day.  Marched  ten  miles. 

October  22d.  Morning  clear  and  warmer.  Moved  at  2  P.  M. 
Crossed  Holston  river  on  pontoon  bridge  at  London  (on  south  bank) 
and  encamped  one  mile  beyond  town  at  5  P.  M.  Marched  six 
miles. 

October  23d.     In  camp.     Rained  all  day  and  into  the  night. 

October  24th.  Weather  clear  and  colder.  At  2  P.  M.  struck 
tents  and  formed  line  of  battle,  the  enemy  reported  advancing  from 
the  south.  Remained  in  line  till  dark,  but  no  enemy  came. 

October  25th  (Sunday.)  Cold  and  clear.  All  quiet  in  front. 
Had  divine  service  in  the  afternoon. 

October  26th.  This  morning  Rebel  cavalry  captured  a  part  of 
our  supply  train  inside  of  our  picket  lines.  A  large  force  of  our 
cavalry  went  out  in  pursuit. 

October  27th.  Heavy  detail  from  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania 
sent  out  to  the  front  on  picket  duty. 

October  28th.  Marched  at  4  A.  M.  Recrossed  the  Holston 
River  over  the  pontoon  bridge.  Halted  two  miles  from  the  river 
and  remained  there  five  hours.  Then  marched  back  to  Lenoir  Sta 
tion.  "  Marched  eight  miles. 

October  29th.  Morning  cold  and  foggy.  At  3  P.  M.  moved  a 
mile  from  Lenoir  Station  and  into  a  piece  of  woods,  where  we  en 
camped  for  the  night,  and  were  ordered  to  build  winter  quarters 
there.  This  order  embraced  all  the  regiments  in  the  First  Brigade. 

October  3Oth.  The  camp  was  staked  out  in  regulation  form 
by  the  proper  officers.  It  required  a  full  week  of  hard  work  to 
complete  our  winter  cabins  and  the  officers'  quarters,  and  several 
more  days  to  clean  up  our  company  streets  and  the  regimental  color 
line,  where  we  line  up  on  dress  parade  (but  never  did  there.)  We 
have  drawn  no  clothing  since  August.  This  constant  marching 
and  hard  work  are  hard  on  our  uniforms.  They  are  getting  quite 
frowsy  and  frazzled  and  especially  our  footwear.  The  government 
brogans  (shoes)  that  we  get  are  good,  but  they  are  nearly  worn 
out  now.  Our  regular  government  rations  has  been  reduced  to 


IO2     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

about  one-half  what  we  used  to  get  out  in  God's  good  country,  but 
there  is  no  grumbling.  Men  are  healthy  and  feeling  good,  expect 
ing  to  enjoy  our  winter  rest  in  good  quarters. 

November  Qth  (Monday.)  Weather  very  cold  with  light  flur 
ries  of  snow  and  heavy  frost  at  night.  Men  repairing  cabins  to 
make  them  warmer. 

November  loth.  Hard  frost  last  night.  Rebel  cavalry  ap 
peared  along  the  south  bank  of  the  Holston  River  where  our  pickets 
are  guarding  all  crossings  and  approaches  about  three  miles  from 
camp.  Orders  issued,  "No  fires  allowed  along  the  picket  lines." 

November  nth.  Regiment  ordered  into  line  before  daylight, 
expecting  an  attack  from  the  enemy ;  none  came.  Weather  moder 
ating.  Afternoon  pleasant. 

November  I2th.  Detail  from  the  regiment  sent  out  to  build 
approach  for  a  bridge  across  Holston  River. 

November  I3th.     All  quiet  along  the  lines. 

November  I4th  (Saturday.)  Regiment  fell  into  line  at  day 
light.  Stacked  arms;  then  ordered  to  break  camp,  pack  up  and  be 
ready  to  move  on  a  moment's  notice.  It  soon  began  to  rain.  We 
moved  out  of  this  camp  at  noon  in  a  drenching  rain  storm  and 
marched  to  a  point  opposite  Loudon,  thence  along  the  road  lead 
ing  to  Huff's  Ferry,  where  the  Rebel  forces  under  General  Long- 
street  were  then  crossing  the  Holston  River.  Were  formed  into  line 
of  battle  about  7  P.  M.  (after  dark),  in  close  proximity  to  the  enemy 
and  ordered  to  keep  perfectly  quiet  and  not  sleep.  Marched  nine 
miles.  The  rain  continued  all  night. 

November  I5th  (Sunday.)  Roads  in  terrible  condition,  mud 
ankle  deep.  At  5  A.  M.,  withdrew  quietly  from  in  front  of  the 
enemy  and  marched  leisurely  back  to  Lenoir  Station,  arriving  there 
about  4  P.  M.,  and  were  immediately  ordered  into  position,  with 
the  other  regiments  of  the  First  Brigade,  on  a  ridge  west  of  the  Sta 
tion,  facing  west.  A  detachment  of  25  men  from  the  Forty-fifth 
Pennsylvania,  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Ephraim  Jeffers  of 
Company  G,  was  thrown  forward  to  picket  the  crossroad  leading 
to  Huff's  Ferry,  and  were  posted  two  miles  in  advance  in  a  gap 
overlooking  the  valley  beyond.  They  were  attacked  by  the  enemy 
in  force,  already  formed  and  advancing  toward  our  position  cover 
ing  Lenoir  Station.  Jeffers  immediately  deployed  his  pickets  as 
skirmishers  and  fought  their  advance  stubbornly,  retiring  slowly. 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  103 

holding  his  men  well  in  hand.  Soon  after  the  firing  commenced 
the  Eighth  Michigan  Regiment  were  deployed  as  skirmishers  and 
sent  forward  to  support  Jeffers  in  his  brave  fight.  This  small  force 
with  the  assistance  of  Roemer's  battery,  near  our  battle  line,  which 
threw  two  or  three  shells  into  their  ranks,  checked  their  further  ad 
vance,  and  held  them  till  nightfall.  The  promptness  and  coolness 
displayed  by  Jeffers  and  his  men  in  their  determined  fight  against 
overwhelming  numbers,  delayed,  and  thus  prevented,  an  attack  on 
our  position  then  only  500  yards  in  rear  of  t>ur  skirmish  line.  Gen 
eral  Longstreet  while  personally  examining  our  position  with  his 
field  glass,  from  a  high  hill  opposite,  had  discovered  Jeffers  and  his 
pickets  in  the  gap  and  immediately  ordered  General  Jenkins  to  ad 
vance  on  our  position,  expecting  to  surprise  us;  but  Jeffers'  stub 
born  fight,  and  night  coming  on,  prevented,  that  day.  (See  Long- 
street's  report,  Rebellion  Records,  Series  i,  Vol.  31,  Part  i,  Page 
457;  also  McLaws'  report,  Page  481,  and  Col.  David  Morrison's, 
Page  355.)  The  enemy  attacked  our  skirmish  line  again  about  mid 
night  and  were  promptly  repulsed.  The  night  was  very  dark  and 
damp,  with  drizzling  rain.  We  were  under  arms  again,  this,  the 
second  night,  without  any  sleep.  Distance  marched  eight  miles. 

November  i6th.  At  5  A.  M.,  (just  before  daylight),  with  ac 
coutrements  muffled,  our  line  silently  withdrew  toward  Lenoir  Sta 
tion,  our  skirmish  line  remaining  to  cover  our  retirement  and  watch 
the  enemy.  They  silently  withdrew  also,  and  joined  us  on  the 
Lenoir  road,  where  we  found  the  Third  Brigade  of  our  division 
(first),  under  Colonel  Humphrey,  in  position  to  cover  the  retreat  to 
Campbell  Station.  The  roads  were  in  a  frightful  condition  after  so 
much  rain  and  the  passage  of  our  artillery  and  wagons  that  had  pre 
ceded  us  during  the  night  and  day  previous.  We  marched  rapidly 
closely  followed  by  the  enemy.  We  reached  the  junction  of  Lenoir 
and  Kingston  road  by  n  A.  M.,  with  the  enemy  pressing  so  hard 
upon  our  rear  guard,  that  we  were  compelled  to  take  position  to 
check  them,  which  was  done  in  the  following  order.  Humphrey's 
Third  Brigade  deployed  to  the  right  and  left  across  the  Lenoir 
road,  facing  south;  the  First  Brigade  faced  west,  its  right  resting 
on  Kingston  road,  and  its  left  connecting  on  the  right  of  the  Third 
Brigade,  with  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  deployed  as  skirmishers 
on  its  front;  the  whole  forming  an  angle  covering  the  Junction 
and  all  approach  from  south  and  west.  In  this  position  we  were 
fiercely  assailed  along  our  entire  front.  A  spirited  engagement  en- 


104     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

sued  lasting  about  30  minutes,  near  the  close  of  which  the  Seven 
teenth  and  part  of  the  Twentieth  Michigan  Regiments  from  the  left 
of  Humphrey's  line,  charged  and  drove  the  enemy  back  on  the 
Lenoir  road.  This  cleared  our  front  also  and  gave  them  a  decided 
check,  under  cover  of  which  both  brigades  retired  in  good  order 
to  the  new  line  established  on  the  Campbell  Station  plain  about  a 
mile  to  the  rear.  Here  the  Forty-fifth  was  placed  to  support  a 
battery.  About  3  130  P.  M.,  the  battery  was  ordered  to  fall  back 
to  another  position  and  the  regiment  followed  and  were  later  placed 
in  support  of  Battery  E,  Second  U.  S.  Artillery,  on  reserve  line, 
where  it  remained  till  nearly  dark  when  it  began  the  night  march 
back  to  Knoxville.  During  this  day  the  writer,  being  deprived  of 
more  situable  footwear,  marched  five  miles  and  fought  till  near 
the  close  of  this  engagement  in  his  stocking  feet  and  then  was 
fortunate  enough  to  secure  from  the  quartermaster  sergeant  of  the 
regiment  a  new  pair  of  shoes  that  he  carried  with  him,  for  they 
were  the  last  pair  of  extras  on  hand  at  the  time  and  no  more  came 
for  us  in  that  campaign.  Distance  marched,  ten  miles. 

Siege  of  Knoxville 

November  I7th  (Tuesday.)  Marched  all  night  last  night. 
Reached  Knoxville  at  5  A.  M.,  completely  tired  out.  During  the 
past  72  hours  we  have  been  continually  under  arms  marching  and 
fighting,  or  in  line  of  battle  within  range  of  the  enemy's  guns,  with 
out  a  minute's  sleep  or  undisturbed  rest,  in  bad  weather,  over  miser 
able  roads,  and  in  front  of  a  largely  superior  force  in  numbers. 
But  we  have  succeeded  thus  far  in  baffling  Longstreet's  army  in 
our  defensive  retreat  from  London  to  this  place.  We  are  now  on 
reserve  line  in  position  to  support  our  batteries,  and  trying  to  catch 
a  little  sleep  or  rest,  expecting  to  be  attacked  any  moment.  Marched 
14  miles  last  night. 

November  i8th.  At  12:30  A.  M.,  regiment  went  on  fatigue 
duty,  worked  hard  building  intrenchments  until  6  P.  M.  Heavy 
fighting  out  in  front  all  day.  The  cavalry  under  General  Sanders  is 
trying  to  hold  the  enemy  while  we  are  intrenching. 

November  iQth.  Before  daylight  regiment  went  out  on  picket 
line,  relieving  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts.  Picket  line  is  in 
trenched;  the  right  of  our  line  engaged.  During  the  night  the 
cavalry  retired  from  our  front.  The  enemy  is  closing  in  around  us. 


Major  General  A.  E.  Burnside 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  105 

November  2Oth.  Regiment  still  on  picket  line.  Raining  in  the 
afternoon  and  continued  all  night. 

November  2ist.  Regiment  relieved  from  picket  line  before 
daylight.  Rain  continued  till  noon. 

November  22d  (Sunday.)  We  are  allowed  only  half  rations  of 
bread  and  meat.  No  small  rations.  Regiment  in  trenches  all  day 
and  night,  expecting  an  assault  on  our  lines. 

November  23d.  Regiment  changed  position  on  line.  Each 
regiment  of  First  Brigade  is  assigned  a  portion  of  the  works  to 
fortify  and  defend  at  all  hazards.  The  Forty-fifth  has  600  yards 
to  defend  with  about  200  men  present  for  duty.  The  effective 
strength  of  First  Brigade,  November  2Oth,  was  45  officers,  60 1  en 
listed  men,  total,  646,  an  average  of  162  per  regiment.  The  monthly 
report  of  Company  G,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  for  No 
vember,  dated  November  3Oth,  gives  number  present  on  duty  t\vo 
officers  and  14  enlisted  men,  total  16.  In  the  afternoon  the  enemy 
was  discovered  massing  troops  on  our  front  in  rear  of  their  picket 
line.  Nothing  came  of  it. 

November  24th.  The  Second  Michigan  Regiment  made  a  sortie. 
Carried  an  advanced  work  of  the  enemy,  but  in  turn  was  driven 
back  with  considerable  loss. 

November  25th.  To-day  the  enemy  attacked  our  lines  on  the 
heights  on  the  south  side  of  river.  The  side  of  mountain  next  to 
river  is  steep  and  sparcely  wooded.  From  our  position  we  could  see 
the  skirmish  line  engaged,  could  see  the  moving  lines  and  the  puffs 
of  smoke  from  their  guns  but  could  not  hear  the  reports.  It  was  a 
novel  scene,  a  real  moving  war  picture  set  on  nature's  canvas,  minus 
the  noise.  This  was  undoubtedly  clue  to  distance,  atmospheric  con 
ditions  and  the  river  that  intervened.  No  artillery  \vas  used.  Not 
a  sound  to  be  heard  where  we  were  that  would  indicate  the  fight 
that  was  on.  The  enemy  was  repulsed  and  driven  back. 

November  26th.  Weather  cold.  Heavy  frosts.  At  5  A.  M., 
went  out  on  picket  with  the  detail  from  regiment.  Slightly  en 
gaged,  only  firing  occasional  shots. 

November  27th.  Relieved  from  picket  at  5  A.  M.  Rained  at 
night.  We  are  now  subsisting  on  quarter  rations  of  bread  made 
from  whole  ground  wheat  unbolted  (chop)  and  sometimes  a  little 
meat.  But  we  manage  to  purloin  some  corn  on  the  ear  from  the 
mules'  corral  to  help  out  our  stomachs,  when  the  guards  are  not 
watching. 


io6     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

November  28th.  Mist  and  fog.  My  messmate  and  I  went  into 
town  to  buy  bread  at  a  bakery  we  had  heard  of.  Found  a  large 
crowd  there  on  same  errand.  They  would  sell  only  one  loaf  to 
each  man.  We  were  required  to  pass  in  single  file  through  a  nar 
row  railed-in  passage  by  a  window,  where  a  pane  of  glass  had  been 
removed,  pass  in  ten  cents,  receive  our  loaf  and  move  on  without 
stopping  the  line.  By  a  simple  ruse  we  got  three  loaves.  For 
hungry  men,  they  were  a  very  orderly  crowd.  We  were  ordered 
to  remain  continually  in  the  works  ready  at  any  moment  to  repel 
assault.  About  n  P.  M.,  the  enemy  drove  in  our  pickets  in  front 
of  Fort  Sanders  and  the  right  of  our  line.  Our  pickets  fell  back 
to  the  works  from  the  broken  line. 

November  29th  (Sunday.)  At  daylight  the  enemy  in  heavy 
columns  assaulted  Fort  Sanders  and  were  soon  repulsed  with  heavy 
loss — 587  killed  and  wounded ;  captured,  226  prisoners,  three  battle 
flags  and  500  stands  of  arms.  Our  loss,  four  killed,  n  wounded. 
Immediately  after  the  repulse  of  the  enemy's  infantry  at  Fort  Sand 
ers  I  was  directed  by  Colonel  Hills  to  take  the  detail  of  pickets 
from  the  Forty-fifth  and  establish  a  new  picket  line  to  cover  the 
front  of  our  works,  which  was  done  by  deploying  them  as  skirm 
ishers  and  moving  forward  into  the  woods  near  the  old  picket  line. 
The  morning  was  misty  and  difficult  to  see  clearly  any  great  dis 
tance.  The  enemy's  batteries  and  ours  all  along  the  lines  were 
engaged  in  a  lively  cannonade.  A  seething  stream  of  hurtling  shot 
and  shell  was  screaming  over  our  heads  in  a  converging  crossfire 
from  east  to  west,  while  the  flank  fire  of  a  Rebel  battery  on  the 
heights  south  of  the  river  is  tearing  down  through  the  center  of  it, 
along  our  old  abandoned  picket  line,  with  a  crashing  enfilade  of 
bursting  shells  and  nobody  in  it.  It  made  a  horribly  terrifying 
racket,  but  whatever  effect  it  had  upon  the  lines  on  either  side  it 
did  us  no  physical  harm.  One  of  the  boys  of  Company  G  sat  lean 
ing  against  the  trunk  of  a  tree  coolly  writing  in  his  diary  and  the 
following  words  are  a  part  of  his  entry:  "The  artillery  duel  is 
awful.  The  shells  are  passing  over  my  head  like  bees,  while  I  am 
writing  this."  The  cannonade  lasted  about  35  minutes,  then  gradu 
ally  ceased  after  the  enemy's  infantry  had  resumed  their  former 
positions. 

November  3Oth.  All  quiet  on  the  Holston.  After  dark  in 
trenched  our  new  picket  line. 

December  ist.     Very  cold.     Rations  to-day  a  little  cornmeal. 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  107 

December  2<d.     Building  abattis.     Rations  very  scant. 

December  3rd.     All  quiet.    Very  cold  nights.    Clothing  poor. 

December  4th.  Two  companies  from  the  regiment  sent  out  in 
the  afternoon  to  feel  of  the  enemy.  Found  them  watchful. 

December  5th.  Enemy  withdrew  in  the  night  going  north.  End 
of  siege.  Duration,  18  days. 

December  6th  (Sunday.)  Resting.  The  losses  in  the  Forty- 
fifth  during  the  retreat  from  Loudon  and  siege  of  Knoxville : 
Wounded,  12;  captured  or  missing,  n;  total,  23. 

December  7th.  Received  marching  orders  at  6  A.  M.  Moved 
at  7  A.  M.,  without  rations,  in  light  order,  leaving  knapsacks  and 
tents.  Marched  12  miles.  A  comrade  and  I  caught  a  hog  that  was 
running  at  large,  killed  it,  skinned  and  cut  out  one  ham.  The  rest 
went  quickly. 

December  8th.  Started  at  noon.  Marched  seven  miles  and 
camped.  Rained  in  the  afternoon.  Our  advance  in  touch  with 
enemy. 

December  Qth.  Marched  at  8  A.  M.  Regiment  rear  guard  of 
the  Ninth  Corps.  Encamped  at  Rutledge  after  a  12  mile  march. 
Rations  scarce,  but  the  men  feeling  good. 

December  loth.  Lying  in  camp  waiting  for  rations.  Long- 
street's  army  must  be  hungry,  too.  They  have  taken  all  the  forage 
in  sight.  Inhabitants  are  mostly  loyal  Union  men.  I  bought  some 
cornmeal  and  sorghum  syrup  for  my  mess. 

December  nth.  Weather  mild  and  pleasant.  Drew  a  little 
flour,  baked  biscuits,  ate  them  all  at  one  meal.  Our  clothes  are 
worn  threadbare  and  ragged.  Shoes  ditto ;  many  without  any.  We 
have  one  serviceable  pair  of  cavalry  boots  in  our  mess  of  four. 
General  Burnside  relieved.  General  John  G.  Foster  in  command. 

December  I2th.  Hungry  and  healthy.  Men  in  fine  spirits.  We 
can  live  on  one  meal  a  day  now,  if  there's  enough  of  it.  General 
Shackleford's  cavalry  covering  our  front,  had  a  sharp  fight  with 
the  enemy  yesterday. 

December  I3th  (Sunday.)  Had  regimental  inspection  this 
morning  and  divine  service  afterward.  Rations,  faith  and  corn- 
meal.  Ordered  at  midnight  to  be  ready  to  march  at  daylight.  It 
rained  in  the  afternoon;  night  rough  and  stormy. 

December  I4th.  The  enemy  drove  in  our  cavalry  a  short  dis 
tance  about  dark. 


io8     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

December  I5th.  At  9  A.  M.,  regiment  deployed  into  line  of 
battle.  At  8  P.  M.,  marched  in  retreat  six  miles,  formed  line  again 
and  remained  till  morning. 

December  i6th.  At  9  A.  M.,  marched  in  retreat  to  Blaines 
Cross  Roads,  seven  miles,  and  formed  line  of  battle  on  a  rough 
ploughed  field.  The  lines  off  on  our  right  engaged  in  the  afternoon. 
Enemy  checked.  It  rained  all  night. 

December  I7th.  Encamped  in  line  of  battle.  Sharp  skirmish 
ing  on  our  right  (on  the  river  road),  this  morning.  Received  two 
months'  pay  to-day. 

December  iSth.  War  Department  Order  No.  191,  about  re- 
enlistments,  read  to  the  regiment.  In  line  without  shelter  or  proper 
clothing  and  weather  turning  cold.  Tents  and  knapsacks  still  at 
Knoxville.  No  rations  only  as  we  forage  and  buy  from  loyal 
citizens. 

December  I9th.  Cold  raw  wind  and  freezing  with  flurries  of 
snow.  To-day  government  ration,  three  tablespoonfuls  of  flour  and 
a  little  salt. 

December  2Oth  (Sunday.)  The  enemy's  cavalry  are  on  our 
front,  but  are  shy.  Our  dog  tents  and  knapsacks  arrived  to-day. 
All  quiet  during  next  three  days.  No  change. 

December  24th.  Weather  moderating.  I  went  out  with  a 
foraging  party.  Secured  three  fat  sheep  and  some  cornmeal. 

December  25th  (Christmas.)  Company  G  is  feasting  to-day  on 
fresh  mutton  and  cornmeal  pudding.  Many  of  the  boys  in  the 
regiment  are  without  shoes,  but  they  are  a  jolly  lot,  when  not  too 
hungry. 

December  26th.  It  began  raining  this  morning  and  continued 
all  day,  making  our  line  a  very  nasty  place  to  stay  in.  Colonel  John 
I.  Curtin  returned  to  the  regiment  to-day. 

December  27th  (Sunday.)  Rain  continued  all  night.  Morning 
dark  and  gloomy  and  still  raining  some.  After  being  in  line  of 
battle  12  days  we  are  now  ordered  to  encamp  in  woods  nearby.  It 
rained  very  hard  before  we  got  our  little  tents  up  and  continued 
all  night  again.  Are  now  allowed  half  rations,  such  as  the  com 
missary  can  provide. 

December  28th.  Weather  moderating.  Many  of  the  men  re- 
enlisting. 

December  29th.     Weather  pleasant. 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  109 

December  3Oth.  Sergeant  David  L.  Bacon  of  Company  G,  and 
the  writer  went  out  foraging  about  five  miles  in  the  country,  came  to 
the  Holston  River  at  a  ferry,  borrowed  the  ferryman's  (a  darkey) 
rowboat,  floated  down  stream  three-quarters  of  a  mile  to  a  planta 
tion  on  the  other  side,  hid  our  boat,  bought  two  canteens  of  sorg 
hum  molasses  and  a  bushel  of  shelled  corn  of  the  old  planter,  age 
about  60,  a  good  Union  man.  He  gave  us  a  good  dinner.  We 
backed  our  corn  to  the  boat,  floated  down  stream  again  nearly  a 
mile  to  a  mill,  had  it  tolled  and  ground,  told  the  miller  to  inform 
the  darkey  where  his  boat  was,  then  lugged  our  forage  across  coun 
try  to  camp  again  by  dark.  We  had  to  ford  several  creeks  swollen 
by  the  recent  rains  nearly  to  our  waists.  This  is  only  one  instance 
of  the  difficulties  we  had  to  encounter  in  foraging  for  provisions. 

December  3ist.  Regimental  inspection  and  muster  for  pay. 
Weather  rapidly  growing  cold  again. 

On  January  i,  1864.  Three-fourths  of  the  surviving  enlisted 
men  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry 
having  re-enlisted  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  contained  in 
General  Order  No.  191,  issued  by  the  U.  S.  WTar  Department,  the 
regiment  was  mustered  out  of  service  and  immediately  mustered  in 
again  for  three  years,  or  during  the  war,  and  thereafter  from  this 
date  the  regiment  is  officially  designated  and  known  as  the  "Forty- 
fifth  Regiment  Pennsylvania,  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry." 

January  i,  1864,  was  an  exceedingly  cold  day  for  that  latitude 
and  the  coldest  in  the  recollection  of  the  resident  inhabitants  up  to 
that  time;  and  for  years  afterwards  was  referred  to  by  them,  and 
is  now,  by  all  the  surviving  soldiers  who  served  there  that  winter, 
as  "the  cold  New  Year's  day."  The  intense  cold  continued  for 
nearly  five  days,  followed  on  the  6th  by  eight  inches  of  snow.  The 
ground  was  frozen  hard  to  a  depth  of  four  inches.  Our  little  duck 
tents  pegged  to  the  bare  ground  were  no  protection  against  the 
stinging  cold  that  penetrated  everywhere,  and  for  many  days  in 
that  camp  on  the  bleak  hillside  we  tramped  to  and  fro  between  our 
little  tents  and  a  number  of  fires  that  were  kept  constantly  replen 
ished  and  burning  day  and  night,  in  order  to  preserve  the  normal 
warmth  of  body  necessary  for  a  comfortable  existence.  These  con 
ditions  continued  with  but  slight  variation  in  all  the  camps  around 
us  during  the  remainder  of  our  stay  there. 

Under  the  conditions  of  our  re-enlistment  we  were  to  have  an 
immediate  furlough  home  for  30  days.  With  a  vision  of  home, 


no     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

kindred  and  friends,  with  all  that  it  meant  to  us  then,  continually 
looming  up  in  our  minds,  we  naturally  became  restless  and  eager 
to  go.  Colonel  Curtin  gave  the  regiment  the  choice  of  remaining 
until  clothing  and  better  rations  arrived,  or  march  as  we  were.  We 
were  heartily  tired  of  the  waiting  program  and  voted  unanimously 
to  go  at  once,  so  on  January  i6th,  with  a  scanty  supply  of  cornmeal 
rations,  we  began  our  journey  of  200  miles  back  over  the  moun 
tains  to  Camp  Nelson,  Ky.,  the  concluding  march  of  this  memorable 
campaign.  The  roads  were  in  a  horribly  bad  condition.  When  we 
had  passed  through  Cumberland  Gap  we  encountered  another  snow 
storm  that  came  on  in  the  night  and  the  next  day,  a  blustery  one, 
the  regiment  marched  in  single  file,  changing  companies  to  the 
front  often,  and  all  following  in  the  one  path.  We  reached  Camp 
Nelson  on  the  25th  of  January.  Here  we  drew  new  uniforms  and 
had  a  general  clean  up,  in  preparation  for  home. 

Thus  endeth  my  story  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  in  East 
Tennessee  told  in  the  simple  brief  manner  it  was  chronicled  at  the 
time,  the  details  of  which  I  do  not  feel  competent  to  portray  in 
suitable  language  and  would  not  if  I  could,  for  it  is  not  a  pleasant 
story  with  the  half  yet  untold. 


Home  on  Veteran  Furlough  1 1 1 


CHAPTER  VIII 

HOME  ON  VETERAN  FURLOUGH 

BY  W.  A.  ROBERTS 

About  the  ist  of  January,  1864,  over  400  men  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  Regiment  re-enlisted  "for  three  years  more  or  during  the  war," 
thus  securing  for  themselves  a  veteran  furlough  of  30  days  at  home 
and  preserving  their  regimental  organization.  Other  regiments  did 
likewise.  Notwithstanding  all  the  hardships  and  sufferings  they  had 
just  passed  through,  nothing  daunted,  they  signified  their  willing 
ness  to  re-enlist  and  fight  three  years  more,  if  necessary,  for  the 
flag  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  With  a  march  of  nearly  200 
miles  before  them,  over  rough,  mountainous  roads,  with  rivers  to 
ford,  in  mid-winter,  with  scarcely  rations  enough  to  keep  body  and 
soul  together,  and  what  was  still  worse,  many  of  them  without 
shoes,  they  broke  camp  on  January  loth,  1864,  and  commenced  the 
arduous  march  over  the  mountains  via  Cumberland  Gap,  arriving 
at  Barboursville,  Ky.,  January  2ist.  Here  they  received  their  first 
full  rations  in  over  four  months,  and  were  also  supplied  with  shoes 
and  clothes.  After  a  short  rest  the  regiment  left  Barboursville  and 
marched  to  Nicholasville,  where  it  took  the  train  for  Covington 
and  crossed  over  the  Ohio  River  by  ferry  to  Cincinnati.  Here  the 
regiment  remained  a  few  days,  anxiously  awaiting  transportation 
east.  This  was  the  third  time  we  were  in  Cincinnati  while  in  the 
service,  and  we  were  treated  very  kindly  by  the  citizens.  On  or 
about  the  6th  of  February  we  left  for  Harrisburg.  Upon  arriving 
at  Pittsburg  we  received  a  warm  welcome  and  a  bountiful  repast  was 
prepared  by  the  citizens  of  the  "Smoky  City."  After  thanking 
them  for  their  generous  hospitality  we  boarded  the  train  for  Har 
risburg,  where  we  arrived  on  February  8th  and  stacked  arms.  This 
being  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  the  place  where  we  were  organ 
ized  as  a  regiment  and  mustered  into  the  service  at  Camp  Curtin,  it 
was  naturally  expected  that  we  would  receive  some  consideration, 
and  at  least  have  a  decent  place  of  rendezvous  for  accommodation 
over  night.  But  instead,  we  were  quartered  in  a  filthy  old  barracks 
and  a  "home  guard"  placed  over  us.  Our  officers  soon  gave  the 
guards  to  understand  that  we  were  on  veteran  furlough,  and  that 


ii2     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

they  had  no  right  to  hold  us.  'Consequently  the  boys  scattered  out 
and  went  where  they  pleased.  My  tent-mate,  George  W.  Lehman, 
and  myself  engaged  quarters  at  the  Hotter  House  on  Market  street. 
Next  morning  Companies  B  and  K  took  the  train  for  Columbia,  28 
miles  distant,  where  they  arrived  in  due  time  and  were  accorded  a 
most  hearty  welcome  by  the  citizens  of  Columbia  and  surrounding 
towns  who  were  at  the  depot  in  large  numbers  to  meet  their  boys. 
The  other  companies  of  the  regiment  also  went  to  their  respective 
homes.  It  was  one  of  the  happiest  of  occasions  to  those  whose 
sons  had  returned  in  safety;  but  a  sad  one  to  the  parents,  wives  and 
sweethearts  of  those  who  had  gone  down  in  battle,  or  had  died  in 
rebel  prisons  from  starvation  and  disease. 

After  spending  thirty  days'  veteran  furlough  at  home,  and  hav 
ing  a  pleasant  time  generally,  the  hour  came  when  we  were  obliged 
to  say  "good-bye."  It  was  a  sad  parting,  indeed,  for  well  we  knew 
it  would  be  the  last  earthly  meeting  to  many. 

The  Rendezvous  at  Annapolis — March  to 
Washington  and  to  the  Wilderness 

After  reassembling  at  Harrisburg,  the  regiment,  with  many  re 
cruits,  proceeded  to  Annapolis,  Mel.,  where  it  arrived  on  March 
2Oth,  1864,  and  went  into  camp.  It  remained  there  until  April 
23d,  following.  This  was  the  rendezvous  for  General  Burnside's 
Ninth  Corps.  The  Forty-fifth  was  assigned  to  the  First  Brigade, 
Second  Division,  Ninth  Army  Corps.  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin,  a 
nephew  of  the  "old  war  governor  of  Pennsylvania,"  commanded 
the  regiment  at  that  time.  The  division  was  composed  of  the 
Forty-fifth  and  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania,  Thirty-fifth,  Thirty- 
sixth,  and  Thirty-eighth  Massachusetts,  and  the  Fourth  and  Seventh 
Rhode  Island  Regiments,  every  regiment  having  been  recruited  up 
to  the  maximum  standard. 

During  our  stay  at  Annapolis  we  witnessed  one  of  the  most 
heartrending  sights  that  ever  met  our  eyes — one  that  left  a  lasting 
impression  upon  our  minds.  It  was  an  army  of  marching  skeletons, 
just  paroled  from  Rebel  prisons  and  coming  to  Camp  Parole.  We 
wondered  if  it  could  be  possible  that  in  this  clay  and  age  of  civiliza 
tion  and  enlightenment  such  treatment  would  be  tolerated  for  a 
moment.  Even  though  the  poor  unfortunates  were  prisoners  of 
war  they  should  at  least  have  been  treated  like  human  beings.  They 


Home  on  Veteran  Furlough  113 

looked  as  though  they  had  just  risen  from  their  graves,  and  the  odor 
attending  them  was  sickening,  reminding  one  of  the  exhumation 
of  dead  bodies.  It  was  a  wonder  to  us  how  they  could  stand  erect, 
let  alone  march,  so  thin  and  emaciated  they  were. 

While  lying  in  camp  at  Annapolis  everybody  had  plenty  of 
money  and  government  rations  were  at  a  discount;  consequently 
when  we  broke  camp  there  was  an  oversupply  in  every  tent.  We 
"old  vets"  thought  of  the  starvation  times  we  experienced  in  East 
Tennessee  and  other  campaigns,  and  when  we  saw  the  recruits 
throwing  \vhole  loaves  of  soft  bread  at  each  other  before  leaving 
camp,  thought  it  proper  to  at  least  warn  them  that  they  would  prob 
ably  need  that  bread  while  on  the  march.  The  advice  was  treated 
lightly,  with  a  few  exceptions ;  but  before  we  reached  Washington 
city  some  of  them  were  glad  to  accept  a  piece  of  bread  from  the 
old  boys.  Several  of  the  boys  thrust  their  bayonets  through  the 
loaves  and  carried  them  at  "shoulder  arms.1'  I  had  three  loaves  on 
my  bayonet,  besides  a  haversack  full,  so  I  did  not  suffer  any  incon 
venience  from  hunger  while  on  the  march  from  Annapolis  to  Wash 
ington.  Of  course,  we  shared  our  rations  with  those  who  had  none, 
but  reminded  them  of  the  old  adage  which  reads,  "Wilful  waste 
makes  woeful  want." 

The  inhabitants  residing  along  the  route  of  the  march  from 
Annapolis  to  Washington  certainly  reaped  a  rich  harvest  in  the 
way  of  clothing  of  all  kinds,  from  government  overcoats  down  to 
the  finest  of  underwear  of  every  description,  besides  various  kinds 
of  musical  instruments,  which  the  new  men  had  brought  from  home 
and  found  too  burdensome  to  carry.  They  were  all  right  while  in 
camp,  or  traveling  by  rail  or  boat ;  but  when  it  came  to  carrying 
this  surplus  baggage  on  the  march,  besides  the  necessary  accountre- 
ments,  consisting  of  knapsack,  haversack,  with  several  days'  rations, 
canteen,  cartridge  box  containing  from  40  to  60  rounds  of  ammuni 
tion,  and  musket,  it  was  perfectly  natural  for  them  to  get  rid  of  the 
unnecessary  surplus,  and  they  did,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  articles  cast  away  were  valuable  tokens  from  the  dear 
ones  at  home. 

We  left  camp  at  Annapolis,  April  23d,  and  arrived  at  Washing 
ton  on  the  25th,  where  the  whole  Ninth  Corps,  with  its  new  Fourth 
Division,  composed  of  colored  troops,  was  reviewed  by  President 
Lincoln,  and  then  crossed  the  historical  Long  Bridge  into  Virginia. 


ii4     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

After  a  three  days'  march  the  corps  arrived  at  Bristow  Station  and 
did  guard  duty  along  the  Danville  &  Richmond  Railroad.  On  May 
4th  the  corps  proceeded  via  Warrenton  Junction  on  its  way  to  the 
Wilderness  battlefield,  crossing  the  north  fork  of  the  Rappahannock 
at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  the  Rapidan  at  Germania  Ford 
about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  reaching  the  battlefield  long  after 
dark.  Every  soldier  knew  that  we  were  about  to  participate  in  a  bat 
tle,  as  the  booming  of  cannon  and  the  rattle  of  musketry  were  heard 
long  before  reaching  Germania  Ford.  The  trail  of  the  regiments 
preceding  us  was  made  plain  by  the  thousands  of  playing  cards 
strewn  along  the  wayside,  which  they  had  discarded  from  their 
blouse  pockets  to  make  room  for  their  testaments,  which  had  re 
posed  unopened,  in  many  cases,  for  weeks,  in  their  knapsacks.  It 
was  the  general  opinion  that  a  copy  of  the  Bible  possessed  a  charm 
to  resist  the  enemy's  bullets.  Later  in  the  evening,  while  waiting 
for  the  coffee  to  boil,  the  brigade  bands  were  playing  popular  airs 
to  cheer  the  tired  and  footsore  troops  after  their  long  and  tedious 
march.  The  thoughts  of  the  boys  reverted  to  their  loved  ones,  and 
they  called  for  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  As  the  bands  responded, 
tears  rolled  down  the  cheeks  of  the  veterans,  and  sobs  were  stifled 
with  much  effort.  To  add  to  the  dismal  effects  of  the  situation,  the 
whip-poor-wills  and  other  wild  night  birds  that  inhabited  this  deso 
late  region  gave  forth  their  uncanny  notes  when  all  else  became 
quiet,  which  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  breasts  of  the  sol 
dier  boys  and  caused  one  of  them  to  remark :  "Ah,  birdie,  if  I  had 
your  wings  I  wouldn't  be  in  these  'diggins'  very  long."  We  slept 
for  a  few  short  hours,  with  our  knapsacks  strapped  upon  our  backs 
and  our  muskets  by  our  side,  ready  to  fall  in  at  a  moment's  notice. 
The  order  came  to  move  before  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the 
6th.  Owing  to  the  thick  growth  of  low  scrub  wood,  etc.,  our 
progress  was  slow  and  knapsacks  were  ordered  off  and  a  guard 
placed  over  them,  which  was  a  very  foolish  thing  to  do.  That  was 
the  last  I  ever  saw  of  my  knapsack,  with  all  its  contents.  Whether 
any  of  the  boys  recovered  theirs  I  do  not  know,  as  Companies  A 
and  K  of  our  regiment  were  ordered  on  the  skirmish  line  shortly 
afterward,  and  opened  the  battle  that  day. 

The  first  man  I  saw  fall  was  Simon  Sanders  of  Company  K. 
He  was  the  second  man  from  me  on  the  left,  Frank  P.  Swears  being 
between  us.  Major  Kelsey  ordered  Frank  and  myself  to  go  see  how 
badly  he  was  wounded.  We  both  went  to  him  and  called,  but  re- 


Home  on  Veteran  Furlough 


ceived  no  answer.  We  turned  him  over  and  found  that  a  bullet  had 
pierced  his  heart,  killing  him  instantly.  After  pronouncing  him  dead 
the  Major  ordered  us  back  to  our  respective  places.  As  Frank 
and  I  were  exposed  to  the  full  view  of  the  enemy  we  expected  to 
meet  the  same  fate,  but  from  some  unexplained  reason  they  did  not 
fire  at  us.  After  resuming  my  position  and  firing  three  or  four 
shots  a  bullet  pierced  my  left  arm  near  the  shoulder  and  the  Major 
ordered  me  to  the  rear.  Just  as  I  stepped  back  our  line  of  battle 
came  up  and  the  engagement  became  general.  The  musketry  on 
both  sides  was  most  terrific  and  the  rebel  bullets  whistled  around 
me  like  hail,  cutting  off  leaves  and  branches.  I  walked  back  toward 
the  field  hospital  as  unconcerned  as  though  they  were  so  many  bees. 
My  only  concern  was  about  the  poor  boys  who  were  facing  that 
terrible  fire,  and  whether  I  would  lose  my  arm.  Weak  and  faint 
from  loss  of  blood,  I  came  across  a  small  stream  of  pure  water  and 
bathed  my  wounded  arm.  The  sleeve  of  my  blouse  was  saturated 
with  blood.  The  application  of  cold  water  somewhat  revived  me 
and  I  proceeded  on  my  way  to  the  field  hospital,  probably  a  mile 
or  so  to  the  rear.  The  first  man  I  met  was  our  worthy  hospital 
steward,  Comrade  James  A.  Meyers,  who  gave  my  wound  some  at 
tention  and  stopped  the  flow  of  blood. 

Soon  the  poor  fellows  were  brought  in  wounded  in  all  manner 
of  shapes,  and  the  doctors  and  attendants  had  all  they  could  do  am 
putating  arms  and  limbs  and  dressing  wounds.  Among  the  num 
ber  from  Company  K  were  George  Gilbert,  Andrew  Hostetter,  Reu 
ben  E.  Feilis,  Hillston  Carrs,  Thomas  Kelley,  Wm.  H.  Benson, 
Charles  A.  Deckman,  David  S.  Edler,  Samuel  B.  Weaver,  Reuben 
Weaver,  and  others.  George  Gilbert  was  wounded  in  the  throat 
and  was  unable  to  swallow.  While  supporting  him  in  my  arms  and 
trying  to  give  him  a  drink  of  water  he  fell  back  dead.  The  poor 
boys  were  calling  for  water  all  around  me  and  I  was  kept  busy  car 
rying  canteens  of  water  from  a  nearby  stream  and  administering  to 
them  as  best  I  could  with  my  lame  arm.  Probably  an  hour  after 
the  battle  began  a  part  of  our  line  \vas  driven  back  by  the  enemy, 
which  caused  a  stampede  and  everybody  who  could  get  away  did 
so  very  hurriedly,  expecting  to  be  captured.  So  I  was  left  alone 
with  the  wounded  and  dying  for  a  short  while;  in  fact,  I  was  the 
only  one  left  that  could  have  gotten  away.  They  begged  of  me  not 
to  go  away  and  leave  them,  saying,  "Don't  go  and  leave  us,  Bill." 
I  said,  "I'll  stay  with  you,  if  we  are  all  captured."  Soon  our  troops 


n6     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

regained  the  lost  ground  and  the  scare  being  over  the  hospital  corps 
returned.  I  don't  blame  them  for  trying  to  get  away  after  seeing 
those  paroled  prisoners  at  Annapolis.  It  was  far  preferable  to  take 
the  chance  of  being  killed  in  battle  than  to  be  captured  and  starved 
to  death  by  inches  in  a  Rebel  prison.  I  won't  go  into  further  de 
tails  of  the  horrors  of  the  Wilderness  battlefield  hospital.  It  beggars 
description.  One  of  the  "surgeons"  wanted  to  amputate  my  arm, 
but  I  strenuously  objected  and  told  him  I  needed  that  arm  in  my 
business,  as  I  couldn't  very  well  set  type  with  one  arm,  and  I 
didn't  intend  to  "soldier"  all  my  life.  Besides,  I  was  entitled  to 
some  consideration,  as  I  had  stuck  to  my  post  and  did  the  best  I 
could  while  he  was  absent.  He  left  me  alone  after  that  and  I 
still  have  my  good  "long  primer"  arm  at  this  writing,  over  47  years 
after  the  incidents  I  have  referred  to  occurred. 

Next  day  orders  came  to  remove  the  wounded  to  Fredericksburg, 
and  all  who  were  able  to  walk  had  to  do  so,  as  all  the  ambulances 
were  full  of  badly  wounded.  After  proceeding  on  our  way  quite  a 
distance  we  \vere  ordered  in  another  direction,  as  it  was  reported 
that  Mosby's  guerrillas  were  lying  in  wait  to  capture  us.  Thus 
we  marched  back  and  forth  in  the  hot  sun,  with  no  attention  paid 
to  our  wounds,  and  did  not  reach  Fredericksburg  for  three  or  four 
days.  Many  of  the  poor  boys  died  in  the  ambulances  while  going 
over  the  rough  corduroy  roads.  It  was  heartrending  to  hear  their 
groans  and  cries  for  water  without  being  able  to  relieve  them.  Those 
who  were  able  to  \valk  considered  themselves  lucky.  We  were  a 
sorry  looking  set  of  cripples,  hobbling  along.  Our  wounds  had  not 
been  dressed  from  the  time  \ve  started  until  we  reached  Fredericks 
burg  hospital,  and  many  of  them  not  until  we  met  the  boat  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission  at  Belle  Plains.  A  large  number  died  from 
blood  poisoning.  I  saw  poor  Pat  Hamaker,  one  of  the  Columbia 
boys  of  Company  B,  die  in  the  Fredericksburg  hospital,  and  one  or 
two  others  of  the  Forty-fifth,  whose  names  I  have  forgotten.  Only 
the  worst  cases  were  left  in  that  hospital,  which  was  crowded,  and 
the  remainder  were  sent  to  Washington.  It  was  just  one  week  from 
the  time  I  was  wounded — Friday,  May  6th — until  I  arrived  in  and 
was  assigned  to  Campbell  hospital,  Washington,  D.  C.,  together 
with  Comrade  Calvin  Harris,  of  Wrightsville,  and  several  others 
from  different  regiments.  As  soon  as  we  reached  the  Sanitary 
Commission's  boat  we  received  decent  treatment,  had  our  wounds 
dressed,  and  immediately  got  something  to  eat  and  drink.  It  was 


Home  on  Veteran  Furlough  117 

impossible  to  receive  attention  while  on  the  march,  and  no  one  was 
to  blame.  How  the  boys  did  appreciate  what  was  done  for  them 
by  this  grand  organization  of  noble  men  and  women.  I  could  not, 
speaking  for  myself,  realize  the  situation,  so  dreamlike  did  it  ap 
pear.  One  moment  in  suffering  and  want,  and  the  next  moment, 
kind  hands  ministering  to  our  needs  and  alleviating  our  sufferings. 
One  would  have  to  pass  through  the  condition  in  order  to  fully  ap 
preciate  it.  Such  was  the  experience  of  those  who  were  wounded  in 
the  first  and  second  days'  battles  of  the  Wilderness. 

After  arriving  at  the  hospital  I  wrote  the  following  letter : 

CAMPBELL  HOSPITAL,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C., 

Friday,  May  I3th,  1864. 

DEAR  PARENTS  :  No  doubt  you  have  heard  that  the  Forty-fifth 
Regiment  has  been  engaged  in  battle  and  will  naturally  want  to 
know  the  fate  of  your  three  boys  and  also  of  others  belonging  to 
your  neighbors  and  acquaintances.  *  *  * 

When  I  left  the  regiment,  at  Chancellorsville,  Va.,  last  Sunday 
morning,  Edward  and  Albert  were  both  sound  and  well.  Being 
drummer  boys  they  are  not  necessarily  exposed  to  the  dangers  of 
the  battle,  as  their  duties  as  musicians  are  to  assist  in  attending  to 
the  wounded  in  time  of  battle;  but  they  are  exposed  more  or  less, 
and  have  to  endure  all  the  hardships  attending  an  active  campaign. 

Before  I  left  I  got  a  correct  list  of  the  names  of  the  killed  and 
wounded  in  Companies  B  and  K,  (the  Lancaster  County  contin 
gent),  and  sent  it  to  the  "Columbia  Spy"  for  publication,  so  it  is 
not  necessary  to  give  the  names  in  this  letter.  Besides,  I  expect 
soon  to  get  a  wounded  furlough  of  thirty  days  and  will  give  you  all 
the  details  when  I  get  home.  I  wrote  you  a  hurried  letter  in  pencil 
while  on  the  march  to  the  Wilderness  battle,  but  do  not  suppose  it 
was  received,  as  mail  was  stopped  from,  but  not  to,  the  army.  We 
marched  for  two  days,  with  very  little  rest,  arriving  on  the  battle 
field  on  Thursday  evening,  May  5th.  We  expected  to  get  into  the 
battle  next  morning  and  were  not  disappointed.  As  you  know  the 
result  I  will  close,  expecting  to  see  you  soon ;  besides,  I  suppose  you 
have  read  the  "Spy"  by  this  time,  giving  the  details.  My  papers 
for  a  furlough  home  were  made  out  yesterday,  so  you  can  look 
for  me  almost  any  time. 


n8     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

While  I  feel  most  grateful  that  I  escaped  so  luckily,  I  can  not 
help  but  express  my  heartfelt  sorrow  for  the  poor  boys  who  were  my 
comrades,  side  by  side,  who  went  down  to  death  in  that  dreadful 
carnage  or  who,  perhaps,  were  maimed  for  life.  Such  is  the  for 
tune  of  cruel,  cruel  war.  Let  us  hope  their  precious  lives  were  not 
sacrificed  in  vain,  but  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  they  died  for,  may 
yet  float  triumphantly  over  a  once  more  united  country.  God  grant 
this  cruel  war  may  soon  come  to  an  end.  *  *  * 

The  above  was  my  last  letter  written  home.  I  had  written  a 
letter  to  the  "Columbia  Spy"  (published  at  that  time  by  Mr.  An 
drew  Rambo,  brother  of  Captain  Ezekiel  Y.  Rambo,  of  Company 
K,  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  who  was  killed  March  I3th,  1862,  at 
North  Edisto  Island,  S.  C),  giving  the  names  of  the  killed  and 
wounded  in  the  second  day's  battle  of  the  Wilderness. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  ago  I  addressed  a  letter  to  Colonel 
Samuel  Wright,  of  Columbia,  Pa.,  asking  him  to  please  hunt  up  the 
old  files  of  the  "Spy,"  in  order  to  get  details  for  the  history  of  the 
Forty-fifth,  and  also  through  other  letters  that  I  had  written  for  the 
"Spy"  at  different  periods.  The  following  is  Colonel  Wright's 
reply : 

<«A,      ,,,  "COLUMBIA.  PAV  Oct.  6,  IOOQ. 

MR.  WM.  A.  ROBERTS: 

"DEAR  COMRADE: — I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  your  letter  of 
the  ist  instant.  It  has  interested  me  indeed.  Yours  is  a  record  to 
be  proud  of,  and  I  am  very  glad  that  you  have  cared  to  give  it  to  me. 
I  apologize  for  reducing  you  to  the  rank  of  'devil.'  I  hesitated  over 
the  recollection.  I  knew  you  had  been  in  the  'Spy'  office  during  my 
time;  and  although  I  couldn't  place  you  exactly,  I  concluded  that 
you  had  been  one  of  my  'imps.'  I  am  not  willing  to  admit  that 
this  lapse  of  memory  comes  from  my  age — 81  years  in  December 
next;  but  the  fifty  years  intervening  between  your  term  of  jour- 
ship  and  the  present  time  sufficiently  accounts  for  the  mistake.  I 
remember  having  had  a  little  reminiscent  chat  with  you  at  the  cor 
ner  of  Second  and  Cherry  streets  some  years  ago ;  and  I  very  vividly 
recall  the  comfort  it  was  to  me  to  greet  the  Forty-fifth  at  Blue 
Springs.  This  was  my  first  fight,  and  I  was  considerably  concerned 
as  to  how  I,  a  peaceful  Quaker,  would  face  the  music.  I  found  my 
main  trepidation  was  lest  my  mare,  like  myself,  new  to  'War's 


Home  on  Veteran  Furlough  119 

Alarms/  should  pitch  me  over  her  head.  I  remember  that  I  was 
very  proud  when  I  saw  the  Forty-fifth  move  forward  through  the 
cornfield,  and  heard  the  remarks  of  the  Kentucky  officers,  whose 
men  had  been  patting  away  all  morning  from  behind  trees :  'Look 
thar!  Look  thar!  Why,  they're  goin'  out  into  the  open!'  And 
you  surely  did  go  out ;  and  I  find  in  looking  over  my  letters,  written 
home  at  the  time,  that  the  good  old  Forty-fifth  Regiment  got  the 
hot  end  of  the  losses,  consequently  must  have  been  in  the  thick  of 
the  mess.  It  wasn't  much  of  a  battle,  but  a  pretty  rough  fight,  and 
for  the  reason  I  have  given,  is  ever  memorable  to  me.  I  had  for 
gotten  that  you  were  among  the  disabled  at  the  battle  of  the  Wilder 
ness.  I  saw  Cy.  Bruner  carried  out  by  Ben  Clepper  and  another 
comrade.  I  suppose  that  it  was  after  you  were  wounded  that  our 
line  was  driven  back  from  their  successful  advance.  Our  division 
was  put  in  by  General  Burnside,  General  Potter  remaining  to  bring 
up  part  of  a  brigade  that  had  gone  astray  in  the  thick  growth  of 
scrub  into  which  we  first  advanced.  As  we  reached  our  lines  the 
boys  were  coming  back  in  a  hurry.  I  said  to  Major  Kelsey :  'Hello ! 
What's  the  matter  with  the  Forty-fifth?'  (I  wasn't  used  to  seeing 
that  regiment  on  the  back  track.)  He  answered:  'Captain,  we 
can't  stand  fire  from  both  front  and  rear.'  Some  of  the  new  regi 
ments  had  got  excited  and  were  blazing  away  from  their  position 
in  reserve  right  into  friend  and  foe,  particularly  into  friends.  It 
was  a  nasty  fight !  You  are  certainly  right.  Kelsey  was*  a  good 
man  and  a  brave  soldier.  He  was  among  the  standbys  with  Gen 
eral  Potter  for  special  duty.  We  always  knew  that  when  Kelsey 
and  his  men  were  detailed,  whatever  was  doing  would  be  done.  His 
death  was  entirely  unexpected,  and  I  believe,  unnecessary,  so  far 
as  his  wound  was  concerned.  I  feel  certain  that  he  and  others  of 
our  best  officers  died  from  unsanitary  conditions  in  the  Washington 
hospitals  in  which  they  lay.  He  was  a  great  loss  to  the  regiment 
and  to  the  division. 

"I  have  no  file  of  the  'Spy'  of  the  date  of  your  letters,  and  I 
doubt  that  it  is  in  existence.  I  wrote  an  account  of  the  Blue 
Springs  fight  for  the  paper,  but  I  am  not  certain  that  it  ever  reached 
the  office.  I  find  no  copy  of  it  among  my  papers.  I  gave  'Camp 
bells  Station'  at  length,  which  was  published.  I  am  glad  to  resume 
acquaintance  with  old  comrades.  It  was  always  a  pleasure  to  me 
to  meet  the  old  regiment  on  the  march  or  going  into  action,  and 
though  I  was  only  an  'honorary'  member,  still  I  felt  that  I  was  of  it. 


I2O     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

In  return  for  my  degradation  of  you  from  'jour'  to  'devil,'  you 
generously  promoted  me  from  Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  to  'Gen 
eral  !'  This  is  probably  because  you  are  part  of  the  government, 
which  generously  permitted  me  to  do  a  major's  duty  on  captain's 
pay,  and  get  square  with  a  couple  of  brevets — cheap,  but  not  re 
munerative. 

"Again  I  thank  you  for  your  letter.  Remember  me  to  the  com 
rades  of  your  association.  I  hope  you  may  succeed  in  getting  up 
the  history. 

"Sincerely  yours, 

"SAMUEL  WRIGHT/' 

[The  reader  will  recall  the  incident  of  the  meeting  of  Mr. 
Wright  and  myself  just  as  the  Forty-fifth  was  going  into  action  at 
Blue  Springs,  East  Tennessee,  October  loth,  1863,  which  fact  I 
mentioned  in  a  letter  written  home.] 


IN  THE  WILDERNESS 

The  Forty-Fifth  Singing  Under  Fire 
BY  CAPT.  R.  G.  RICHARDS  OF  Co.  G. 

It  was  on  the  6th  of  May,  1864,  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness. 
After  a  forced  march  through  swamps  and  over  corduroy  roads  dur 
ing  the  night,  \ve  reached  the  battlefield  early  in  the  morning.  We 
knew  that  fighting  had  been  going  on  the  day  before;  that  Grant 
and  Lee  were  now  face  to  face,  and  that  a  great  battle  was  imminent. 

After  being  shifted  from  one  position  to  another  through  the 
wilderness  of  trees  and  thick  underbrush,  being  all  the  time  under 
fire  of  musketry,  we  took  our  place  in  line  of  battle  ready  for  a  gen 
eral  attack. 

We  could  not  distinctly  see  the  enemy's  lines  of  breastwork,  but 
knew  that  they  were  not  far  in  advance  of  our  position. 

Nothing  in  the  experience  of  a  soldier  is  more  exasperating  or 
more  severely  tests  his  courage  than  to  be  in  a  position  under  fire, 
seeing  his  comrades  fall  around  him,  yet  unable  to  return  the  fire 
while  waiting  for  the  command  to  attack. 


In  the  Wilderness  121 


Such  was  our  experience  for  a  time  that  day.  But  the  order  came 
at  last :  "Forward !"  rang  out  all  along  the  line,  and  instantly,  with 
the  light  of  battle  on  their  faces,  the  men  charged  through  the  en 
tangled  undergrowth  amid  the  yells  and  cheers  of  the  charging  col 
umns  and  the  crash  and  roar  of  musketry.  The  Forty-fifth  reached 
the  enemy's  rifle  pits  and  captured  about  two  hundred  prisoners. 
There  we  found  our  old  foes  of  Longstreet's  Corps  whom  we  had 
met  on  other  sanguinary  fields.  For  some  reason  unknown  to  us  the 
troops  on  our  right  and  left  flanks  were  forced  back,  which  necessi 
tated  our  retreat  also;  but  soon  the  line  of  battle  was  reformed  and 
again  the  Forty-fifth  planted  its  colors  on  the  rebel  works,  when 
a  hand  to  hand  conflict  ensued  and  would  have  resulted  in  our  hold 
ing  possession ;  but  to  our  dismay  and  temporary  discomfiture  the 
line  on  our  flanks  was  again  forced  back  and  ourselves  this  time 
driven  to  retreat  in  disorder  and  confusion,  amid  the  groans  of  the 
wounded  and  over  the  dead  bodies  of  fallen  comrades. 

This  was  a  new  and  hard  experience  for  the  Forty-fifth;  never 
before  had  it  been  forced  to  turn  its  back  on  the  foe.  The  suffering 
and  confusion  became  intensified  by  the  leaves  and  underbrush  tak 
ing  fire.  The  smoke  was  so  dense  and  blinding  that  we  could  see 
with  difficulty  but  a  short  distance.  Under  such  conditions  it 
seemed  hardly  possible  to  reform  the  regiment. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  I  saw  General  John  I.  Curtin,  a  little 
to  my  right,  standing  alone.  I  rushed  to  his  side  and  asked  him  if 
we  had  lost  our  colors.  He  replied,  apparently  disheartened,  "I  do 
not  know."  But  presently,  through  the  smoke,  we  saw  a  flag  being 
borne  in  our  direction  and  discovered  that  it  was  our  color  bearer. 
I  immediately  grasped  the  colors,  and  with  an  energy  born  of  the 
calamity,  and  inspired  by  a  realization  of  its  meaning,  sang  out : 

"Rally  round  the  Flag,  boys  ! 
Rally  once  again! 
Shouting   the  battle   cry   of   Freedom." 

Those  of  the  comrades  nearby  joined  in  with  all  their  might.  As 
if  by  magic  the  regiment  reformed,  each  comrade  took  his  place. 
The  air  was  filled  with  smoke  from  the  burning  underbrush;  the 
whistling  of  deadly  missiles;  but  above  all  that  bedlam  of  excite 
ment,  disorder  and  danger,  there  rose  in  clear  and  blood-stirring 

strains : 

"The  Union  forever,  hurrah,  boys,  hurrah ! 
Down  with  the  traitors  and  up  with  the  stars." 


122     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

The  grim  ranks  stood  fast,  ready  for  any  duty,  and  at  the  word 
of  command  moved  firmly  forward,  took  an  advanced  position,  held 
and  maintained  it  until  relieved  the  following  morning. 

Our  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  that  day  was  one  hundred  and 
forty-three. 

It  is  needless  now  to  speculate  as  to  what  might  have  been  the 
result  had  we  failed  to  rally  and  maintain  our  position.  But  one 
thing  was  evident,  had  the  enemy  found  a  gap  in  our  lines,  he  would 
probably  have  availed  himself  of  it  with  disastrous  results  to  our 
army  in  that  part  of  the  field. 

That  was  long  ago,  but  it  still  remains  dear  as  then : 
"The  Flag  of  our  Union  forever." 

NOTE :  Very  briefly  this  is  a  story  of  the  old  Forty-fifth  singing  under 
fire.  General  John  I.  Curtin  urged  me  several  times  to  write  somewhat  in  detail 
the  facts  and  circumstances  of  the  event,  and  for  the  part  I  had  taken  said  that 
he  would  procure  for  me  a  medal  of  honor  from  the  government;  but  I  did  not 
comply  with  the  General's  request  for  the  reason  that  I  then  felt,  as  I  do  now, 
that  I  was  no  more  entitled  to  a  medal  of  honor  than  was  any  other  of  my  com 
rades  who  on  that  day  "Rallied  round  our  Flag"  and  stood  in  that  line  of  living 
valor. — REES  G.  RICHARDS. 


Battle  of  the  Wilderness  123 


BATTLE  OF  THE  WILDERNESS,  MAY  6,  1864. 
An  Unfinished  Poem. 

A  Narrative  in  Verse  of  the   Part  Taken  by  the  Forty-fifth   Pennsylvania 
Volunteer  Infantry  in  Said  Battle. 

THOMAS  J.  DAVIES. 
Dedicated  to  the  Survivors. 

Comrades: 

Forty-eight  years  have  come  and  gone, 

And  we  are  still  here,  journeying  on, 

A  halting  few,  in  a  crowded  throng, 

That  greet  us  kindly,  as  they  cheer  us  along; 

As  we  backward  glance  o'er  the  fading  years, 

With  visions  dim,  through  sunshine  and  tears, 

Shrouded  and  clouded  by  the  struggle  and  strife 

And  busy  activities  of  our  after  life: — Yet 

How  vividly  clear  doth  the  picture  appear, 

As  the  veil  is  parted  and  the  scenes  draw  near, 

Looming  up  on  our  mental  visions, 

By  Corps,  Brigades  and  Divisions. 

See!  the  blue  clad  boys  as  they  march  on  their  way 

Through  the  fields  of  Old  Virginia,  on  the  fourth  of  May, 

'Tis  the  grand  Potomac  Army,  in  war-like  array, 

Marching  down  to  the  river  and  across,  that  day, 

And  the  old  Ninth  Corps,  still  forty  miles  away. 

The  order  came  at  last,  and  they  were  crowded  fast, 

To  reach  the  threatened  front,  for  the  fearful  die  is  cast. 

The  old   Confederate  gray  barricades  the  way, 

In  a  sullen  stubborn  mood,  determined  there  to  stay, 

And  the  Ninth  is  ordered  in,  on  that  memorable  6th  of  May, 

To  pierce  the  rebel  center,  so  the  fateful  orders  say. 

In  the   still   gray  dawn   of  the   morn,   Hark;   they  hear  the  distant 

roar  and  boom 

Of  thousands  then  in  line,  grappling  with  foe, 
In  as  fierce  a  fight  as  ever  known  to  mortals  here  below. 
With  a  scanty  hasty  meal  they  buckle  on  the  steel, 
And  march  away  to  the  sound  of  the  fray,  no  matter  how  they  feel. 
Into  the  forest  wild,  their  lengthened  lines  filed, 
Seeking  the  hidden  foe  in  gray, 
Through  the  dense  grown  thickets  still  beguiled, 
For  no  one  dare  show  them  the  way. 
In  the  somber  gloom  of  the  forest  bloom, 
They  are  marshaled  in  battle  array, 
And  the  order  is  Forward,  regardless  of  doom, 
For  they  heeded  it  not  that  day. 


124     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

In  silence  they  tread  and  forge  ahead, 

Their  colors  flung  out  to  the  breeze. 

With  a  comrade's  touch  and  not  a  word  said, 

As  they  push  through  the  tangle  'neath  the  shadow  of  trees; 

A  flash;  and  a  roar!       Some  are  no  more, 

And  comrades  are  sinking  to  the  earth  by  the  score, 

But  the  old  Forty-fifth,  ever  true  to  the  core. 

Stands  firm  as  a  rock,  'mid  the  shock,  and  the  counter  roar 

Of  the  leaden  storm,  that  her  Springfields  pour 

Speeds  death,  in  each  breath,  as  of  yore. 

Amid  the  dead  and  dying  and  wounded  sore, 

They  strengthen  their  line  to  even  the  score. 

And  the  withering  blasts  from  the  enemy's  guns, 

Die  gradually  out,  to  rattling  runs. 

'Twas  thus  they  held  and  maintained  their  line, 

With  constant  loss,  but  no  count  of  time. 

Then,  gallant  Curtin  sang  out  with  a  shout, 

"Forty-fifth  forward,  we'll  drive  them  out." 

With  a  smashing  crash,  a  cheer  and  a  dash, 

They  rushed  the  line  in  a  terrible  clash, 

And  the  caldron  of  battle,  is  seething  hot, 

With  mixed  combatants  and  flying  shot. 

When  the  stubborn  foe  recoils  from  the  blow, 

And  with  grounded  arm  cry  out  in  alarm 

"Say  Yank,  just  tell  us,  where  shall  we  go?" 

"Get  to  the  rear  and  out  of  our  way." 

Was  the  answer  then,  for  they  had  to  stay; 

And  one  hundred  rebels,  all  in  one  mess, 

Got  a  prisoner's  pass  from  the  Wilderness. 

But  their  line  is  still  there,  with  flanks  in  the  air 

In  a  very  precarious  condition 

Without  proper  support  to  guard  or  care, 

Far  out  from  their  position. 

And  the  wily  foe,  who  was  never  slow 

To  grasp  a  chance,  to  thrust  in  a  lance, 

Through  the  thicket  rank,  on  front  and  flank 

Creep  up,  to  deliver  a  crushing  blow. 

A  withering  blight,  from  front  and  right 

Forced  the  blue  line  back  in  hurried  flight 

To  the  scene  of  their  first  fierce  fight 

Where  their  fallen  in  death,  lie  low. 

On  this  line,  they  rally  on  time, 

And  with  discipline  fine,  and  valor  sublime 

Check  the  advancing  foe. 

Then  the  wild  woods  ring,  and  the  song  they  sing 

In  triumphant  strain,  and  brave  refrain 


Battle  of  the  Wilderness  12 

That  steadies  up  the  lines  and  courage  bring; 

And  the  Massachusetts  boys  join  in  with  a  vim, 

Doubling  up  the  chorus  of  the  grand  old  hymn; 

"The  Union  forever,  Hurrah  boys,  Hurrah, 

Down  with  the  traitor  and  up  with  the  Star, 

For  we'll  rally  round  the  flag  boys,  rally  once  again, 

Shouting  the  battlecry  of  freedom." 

The  Johnnies  ceased  their  fire  as  the  song  rose  higher, 

But  when  they  caught  its  meaning,  were  filled  with  deadly  ire, 

And  the  rifles  crack  again  in  constant  snappy  spite, 

Until  the  darkening  shadows,  cover  all  the  gruesome  sight, 

And  friend  and  foe  alike  lie  on  the  lines  they  fight, 

Exhausted  Nature  claiming  her  own,  for  there's  no  respite. 

The  pickets  on  their  post, 

Peer  into  the  dense  black  skirt 

Of  neutral  ground  that  intervene, 

With  listening  ear  and  vision  keen, 

And  rifles  poised, — alert; 

Guarding  the  sleeping  host. 

And  the  night  grows  on  apace, 

So  fraught  with  portent  to  the  human  race. 

Oh!  night  of  anguish,  night  of  woe, 

Where  thousands  of  lives  are  ebbing  out  slow. 

Would  you  know  the  danger  a  soldier  will  undergo 

To  relieve  the  wounded,  be  he  friend  or  foe? 

See,  the  unseen  silent  forms,  creeping  around, 

Among  the  wounded  and  dying  who  lie  on  the  ground 

Moaning  low;  succoring  them  as  they  go; 

A  rustle  of  leaves,  or  a  whispering  breath, 

Means  a  flash  of  rifles  and  instant  death: 

Still,  on  their  mission  of  mercy  all  through  the  black  night, 

They  are  gathering  them  in,  from  the  left  and  the  right. 

Feeling  their  way,  with  no  ray  of  light: 

The  cry  of  the  wounded  and  the  prayers  they  pray, 

Is  the  only  sound  that  guides  their  way. 

E'er  the  first  faint  gleam  of  morning  light, 

Pierces  the  gloom  of  that  desolate  night, 

The  lines  are  awakened  to  renew  the  fight, 

With  armor  buckled  on  tight; 

And  with  nerves  all  athrill,  await  the  kill 

That  is  sure  to  come,  should  the  enemy  will; 

But  the  full  light  of  day  reveals  at  last, 

The  aggregate  loss  the  records  fix, 

At  just  one  hundred  and  twenty-six; 

The  toll  of  death  is  thirty-four, 

For  the  foe  has  retired  and  gone  away, 

To  battle  again,  on  another  day. 

The  threatened  horror  past; 


126     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Then  the  old  regiment  paused,  to  count  the  cost, 
Numbering  those  present  and  those  that  were  lost, 
And  of  wounded,  ninety-two  more; 
But  this  is  only  a  tithe  of  the  score 
Required  of  them,  e'er  their  battles  are  o'er: 
And  from  this  line  that  the  enemy  yields, 
They  march  away  to  other  fields. 
Some  other  tongue  or  pen  may  tell, 
Of  later  battles;  How  they  fought  and  fell, 
Following  the  flag  they  loved  so  well, 
Into  the  very  jaws  of  Hell, 
With  courage  undaunted,  and  valor  sublime; 
Till  they  scarcely  mustered,  two  hundred  and  nine, 
Of  the  original  thousand  brave  boys  in  line; 
Till  the  struggle  ends,  with  the  peace  it  brought, 
f       The  longed  for  ultimatum  sought; 
No  tongue  can  tell,  or  pen  portray, 
The  hidden  miseries  of  that  night  and  day, 
When  the  recording  angel's  books  are  unsealed, 
These  deeds  of  love  will  be  revealed. 
But  the  thrilling  song,  and  the  scenes  of  that  day, 
In  the  tangled  woods,  on  the  Sixth  of  May, 
In  our  memory  clings  and  will  ever  stay, 
'Till  the  last  survivor  has  passed  away. 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  127 


CHAPTER  IX 

FROM  THE  WILDERNESS  TO  PETERSBURG 

EUGENE  BEAUGE 

My  diary  says  that  on  Saturday  morning,  May  7th,  1864,  the 
day  after  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness,  we  sent  out  skirmishers  and 
found  that  the  enemy  had  evacuated  their  works  in  our  front  during 
the  night.  We  took  possession  of  the  deserted  rifle  pits  and  stayed 
there  until  about  half  past  one  o'clock  next  morning  when  the  men 
were  roused  up  and  hustled  into  ranks  ready  to  march.  Why  they 
got  us  up  at  that  ghostly  hour  we  didn't  know  then  and  that  proceed 
ing  is  still  a  mystery  as  we  only  marched  to  Chancellorsville,  a  dis 
tance  of  a  few  miles  and  went  into  camp  about  8:30  A..  M.,  and 
stayed  the  balance  of  the  day,  busy  most  of  the  time  viewing  the 
battlefield  where  Hooker  and  Lee  crossed  swords  a  year  and  a  few 
days  earlier.  Interesting  relics  such  as  shot,  shells,  broken  guns, 
equipage  and  accoutrements  were  scattered  over  the  field,  to  say 
nothing  of  bleaching  bones  of  men  and  horses  with  here  and  there  a 
ghastly  human  skull  sticking  up  out  of  the  ground.  But  we  were 
not  after  relics  just  then.  On  the  contrary  we  left  a  few  relics  of  our 
own  as  we  went  along  in  those  days.  About  one  o'clock  in  the  af 
ternoon  next  day  we  broke  camp  and  marching  until  8  P.  M.,  the 
regiment  bivouacked  by  the  side  of  the  road  leading  to  Spottsyl- 
vania  Court  House. 

Sunday,  May  loth,  things  began  to  get  more  interesting.  In  the 
afternoon  the  Forty-fifth  was  marched  to  the  extreme  front  taking 
position  on  the  left  of  our  line.  A  sharp  set-to  between  the  Union 
and  Rebel  artillery,  during  which  the  Rebs  got  the  worst  of  it,  helped 
to  liven  things  up.  We  expected  to  be  attacked  that  night  and  in 
military  parlance  we  "slept  on  our  arms"  in  line  of  battle.  Next 
morning  the  enemy's  fortifications  were  in  plain  sight  on  the  heights 
in  front  of  us.  We  went  at  it  and  built  some  works  of  our  own. 
The  way  we  did  this  was  to  pile  up  some  logs,  rails  or  whatever  was 
most  convenient,  then  dig  a  ditch  and  throw  the  dirt  on  top  of  the 
timber,  the  ditch  serving  as  a  depression  to  stand  in  while  every 
shovelful  of  dirt  we  piled  up  in  front  of  us  strengthened  the  breast 
works.  We  did  a  great  deal  of  that  sort  of  thing  in  the  Wilderness 
campaign.  We  got  so  used  to  it  that  about  the  first  thing  after  stack- 


128     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

ing  arms,  when  moving  from  one  point  to  another,  was  to  build 
breastworks.  Temporary  and  flimsy  concerns  they  were,  to  be  sure, 
but  good  enough  to  stop  bullets ;  although  a  shell  would  have  knocked 
them  to  pieces  in  a  jiffy  and  a  cannon  ball  gone  through  our  "works" 
like  a  hot  knife  through  butter.  In  the  afternoon  our  regiment  was 
ordered  to  the  rear  to  establish  a  new  line,  my  diary  says,  and  or 
dered  back  to  the  front  where  we  stayed.  It  was  a  cold,  wet,  dis 
agreeable  night,  much  too  damp  to  sleep  on  the  ground  with  any 
degree  of  comfort.  Sergeant  Rogers,  of  Company  G,  took  a  barn 
door  off  its  hinges.  It  made  a  dandy  bed — comparatively.  But 
there  \vere  not  barn  doors  enough  to  go  around ;  so  we  toughed  'er 
through  on  the  rain  soaked  Virginia  soil,  getting  what  protection 
we  could  from  our  small  shelter  tents. 

Thursday,  May  I2th,  was  an  eventful  day  in  that  neck  of  the 
woods.  "At  daybreak,"  my  diary  says,  "the  whole  army  advanced 
four  lines  deep  and  drove  the  enemy  into  their  works"  It  \vas  on 
the  morning  of  the  I2th  of  May,  as  \ve  all  know,  that  Hancock  made 
his  famous  attack  at  the  Bloody  Angle  or  "Hell's  Half  Acre,"  as 
some  call  it;  and  while  he  was  doing  this,  Burnside  with  the  Ninth 
Corps,  which  of  course  included  the  Forty-fifth,  was  obeying  Grant's 
orders  to  push  the  enemy  with  all  his  might  on  Hancock's  left. 

Some  things  in  our  lives  wre  remember  always,  while  others 
equally  if  not  more  important,  are  almost  forgotten  over  night. 

One  of  the  things  I  remember  is  that  when  we  got  upon  high 
ground  that  morning  where  wre  could  look  back  over  the  territory 
we  had  passed  over,  dead  and  wounded  men  were  scattered  thickly 
over  the  fields  as  far  back  as  we  could  see.  Being  a  farmer's  boy 
the  scene  reminded  me  right  away  of  a  harvest  field  on  the  old  farm 
in  Tioga  County,  and  forsooth  it  was  a  harvest  field  we  were  on 
— the  harvest  field  of  Death  with  human  forms  as  the  ghastly 
sheaves ! 

Another  incident  that  morning  was  more  on  the  ludicrous  than 
the  tragic  or  sublime.  A  Johnny  had  got  rattled  and  lost  his  bear 
ings  somehow  and  instead  of  going  to  his  own  men  he  came  through 
the  fog  and  bushes  plump  into  our  line,  not  discovering  his  mistake 
until  it  was  too  late  to  turn  back.  "Oh  my  God!"  he  said,  throwing 
up  both  hands  and  evidently  scared  most  to  death.  "Come  in  you 
*** !"  Charley  Terbell  said  to  the  bewildered  Johnny.  He  promptly 
accepted  the  invitation  and  was  the  happiest  man  on  the  job  when 
he  found  that  nobody  was  going  to  hurt  him. 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  129 

We  lost  13  men  killed  or  mortally  wounded  at  Spottsylvania. 
Only  one  fatal  casualty  occurred  in  Company  G.  William  Down 
ing  was  shot  through  the  head  and  instantly  killed.  Downing  was 
one  of  the  comparatively  old  men  of  the  company,  probably  between 
thirty-five  and  forty.  A  pathetic  feature  of  his  death  was  that  he 
had  been  serving  as  company  cook  and  was  killed  within  a  few  hours 
after  being  relieved  and  ordered  by  the  captain  to  take  his  place  in 
the  ranks. 

The  enemy  were  behind  intrenchments  while  our  troops  were  in 
the  open,  having  had  no  opportunity  to  build  pits.  Our  orders  were 
to  keep  close  to  the  ground  to  avoid  the  enemy's  fire.  Downing 
raised  up  on  one  knee  to  get  a  better  shot  at  the  enemy  when  a 
bullet  took  him  plumb  in  the  forehead.  He  was  a  volunteer  recruit 
and  had  been  with  us  but  a  few  months.  Patrick  Kelley  and  Phil 
ander  Smith,  also  volunteer  recruits  in  Company  G,  were  wounded 
at  Spottsylvania. 

For  several  days  after  the  I2th  we  were  busy  strengthening  our 
position,  cannonading  and  musketry  going  on  around  us  day  and 
night.  The  weather  was  nasty  and  we  suffered  great  inconvenience 
from  the  rainy  days  and  cold  nights.  By  this  time  we  began  to  feel 
the  effects  of  "Campaigning  with  Grant."  We  had  not  had  a  good 
night's  rest  since  before  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness.  Fighting  and 
marching  had  been  an  almost  continuous  performance.  On  the  ist 
day  of  May  my  cartridge  box  belt  was  just  right  let  out  at  full 
length.  At  Spottsylvania  I  took  up  the  buckle  one  hole  and  a  cou 
ple  weeks  later  gave  it  another  hitch.  We  were  getting  down  to 
fighting  weight  all  right.  It  rained  more  or  less  for  a  week  or  ten 
days  while  we  were  in  the  vicinity  of  Spottsylvania.  We  could  get 
no  comfortable  rest.  Our  clothing  had  no  chance  to  dry.  That  sort 
of  thing  is  bad  for  the  health  and  depressing  for  the  average  human 
being.  No  wonder  some  of  us  were  temporarily  discouraged.  But 
when  the  clouds  rolled  by  and  the  bright  sun  came  out  again  it  made 
all  the  difference  in  the  world.  We  were  ready  then  to  follow  Grant, 
Burnside  and  the  rest  of  them  wherever  they  might  lead ;  or  wher 
ever  they  told  us  to  go,  which  would  be  nearer  right.  They  got  us 
up  about  four  o'clock,  Friday  morning,  May  iSth,  and  ordered  us  to 
pack  up  as  though  there  was  going  to  be  something  done.  All  we 
did,  however,  was  to  move  some  distance  to  the  right  and  swing 
around  the  enemy's  left  flank,  where  we  lay  for  several  hours  under 
a  galling  artillery  fire  during  which  Lieutenant  Irvin,  of  Company 


130     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

E,  was  severely  wounded,  having  one  leg  shattered  by  a  grape  shot ; 
and  then,  like  the  King's  men  in  the  story  book,  we  marched  back 
again.  It  seems  that  our  business  was  to  support  an  assault  by  a  por 
tion  of  the  Second  Corps.  The  assault  failed. 

On  Saturday,  the  2ist,  our  division  marched  to  the  Po  River 
where  we  found  the  enemy  in  force  guarding  the  ford.  We  slept 
on  our  arms  under  a  brisk  artillery  fire  that  night.  The  screeching 
shells  were  not  conducive  to  sound  sleep,  but  we  managed  to  get 
some  rest,  having  become  partially  used  to  that  sort  of  thing. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  mine  written  in  the  field 
while  the  events  referred  to  were  fresh  in  my  memory  will  give  an 
idea  of  our  movements  and  the  situation  for  the  next  ten  days : 

"Leaving  Spottsylvania  on  the  22nd  (May)  we  arrived  at  the 
North  Anna  River  near  Hanover  Junction  at  daybreak  on  the  24th. 
Our  advance  had  driven  the  enemy  across  the  river  and  gained  a 
foothold  on  the  other  side,  our  sharpshooters  having  prevented  the 
destruction  of  the  bridge  when  the  enemy  were  in  the  act  of  firing 
it.  At  5  P.  M.,  our  corps  crossed  the  river  in  a  shower  of  shells, 
which  fortunately  for  us  were  aimed  too  high  and  did  no  great  dam 
age." 

In  this  connection  I  remember  very  well  of  seeing  General  Han 
cock  on  his  horse  just  before  we  crossed  the  river.  Of  magnificent 
physique,  straight  as  a  rail,  and  well  groomed,  a  flashing  seal  ring 
on  one  of  his  fingers,  Hancock,  then  in  the  prime  of  life,  was  a  fine 
looking  officer.  I  never  wondered  after  that  why  they  called  him 
"superb." 

Referring  to  the  same  letter  and  to  my  diary  I  find  that  after 
crossing  the  river  we  formed  line  of  battle  and  built  rifle  pits  with 
in  easy  range  of  the  enemy's  works,  where  we  stayed,  skirmishing 
day  and  night,  expecting  every  moment  to  be  ordered  forward  or  to 
repel  an  assault  by  the  enemy,  until  about  n  P.  M.,  of  the  26th, 
when  the  enemy  having  disappeared  from  our  front,  we  recrossed 
the  river  and  took  up  our  line  of  march  southward.  Marching  until 
about  half  past  one  next  morning  we  bivouacked  and  rested  until  ten 
o'clock  and  away  we  went  again  and  marched  the  balance  of  the  day. 
Resuming  our  weary  tramp  about  eight  o'clock  next  morning  they 
kept  us  going — stopping  betimes  to  make  coffee  and  maybe  rest  a 
little — until  about  one  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  2Qth,  when  we 
came  to  the  Pamunkey  River.  We  crossed  the  river  on  pontoons. 
A  bloody  encounter  had  taken  place  between  our  cavalry  and  Ewell's 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  131 

Corps  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river  the  day  before.  The  enemy 
were  driven  back  and  the  Union  forces  crossed  over  without  serious 
loss. 

Our  regiment  after  crossing  marched  a  couple  of  miles  inland 
and  went  into  camp.  I  remember  we  were  short  of  rations  that  day. 
Nothing  could  be  bought  at  any  price  from  the  natives.  To  use 
their  own  language  "everything  was  all  done  gone."  The  country 
we  had  passed  over  however  was  generally  under  cultivation,  corn 
and  wheat  being  the  principal  crops.  The  darkies,  who  were  sociable 
and  friendly,  said  to  us  that  "Bobby  Lee"  told  them  to  plant  their 
crops  and  he  wrould  keep  the  Yankees  from  molesting  them.  One 
thing  we  were  thankful  for  and  that  is  we  generally  had  plenty  of 
good  water  from  springs  or  rivulets. 

The  roads  at  that  time  of  the  year  were  fearfully  dusty.  Forag 
ing  of  all  kinds  was  at  low  ebb.  The  best  we  could  do  was  to  make 
an  occasional  "requisition"  on  some  planter's  hen-roost  or  maybe 
make  a  raid  among  his  cattle,  sheep  or  pigs. 

Next  day,  May  3Oth,  we  got  marching  orders  again  and  left 
camp  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  but  only  went  a  couple  of 
miles  and  then  formed  line  of  battle  and  built  breastworks — as  usual. 
One  significant  entry  in  my  diary  for  that  day  is  that  "we  drew  ra 
tions."  The  term  rations  appears  frequently  in  a  soldier's  narra 
tion.  Rations  are  the  biggest  part  of  his  living. 

About  one  o'clock,  Tuesday  afternoon  of  the  3ist,  we  left  our 
breastworks  and  advanced  about  a  mile  in  line  of  battle  and  had  a 
brisk  skirmish  with  the  enemy.  In  fact,  we  kept  on  skirmishing  all 
the  afternoon,  our  orders  evidently  being  not  to  bring  on  a  battle. 
The  only  casualty  in  Company  G  was  the  wounding  slightly  of  Ser 
geant  T.  J.  Davies.  A  partially  spent  ball  took  him  squarely  on  the 
end  of  the  chin.  Tom  called  the  dent  it  made  his  dimple.  As  usual 
we  built  works  where  we  were  and  slept  what  we  could  "with  one 
eye  open"  that  night. 

June  ist  my  diary  says  we  remained  behind  works  all  day. 
More  or  less  firing  along  the  line.  Drew  rations.  The  connection 
between  our  haversacks  and  the  supply  trains  was  established  again. 
The  locality  where  we  were  about  that  time  was  called  "Camp  near 
Bethesda  Church."  I  have  learned  since  that  there  was  a  meeting 
house  by  that  name  in  the  neighborhood ;  but  candor  compels  me  to 
say  that  I  never  saw  it  inside  or  out.  Before  daylight  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  2nd  of  June  we  moved  back  to  our  old  pits,  the  ones  we 


132     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

had  built  on  the  3Oth  of  May.  Early  in  the  afternoon  the  Ninth 
Corps  moved  some  distance  to  the  left.  While  executing  this  move 
ment  something  happened  that  I  have  never  forgotten  and  have 
thought  of  a  great  many  times  since.  While  quietly  resting  with 
stacked  arms  in  an  open  field  near  what  was  called  Gaines  Mill  we 
were  suddenly  attacked  on  the  flank  by  the  enemy.  Our  troops, 
partly  massed,  were  in  poor  shape  to  resist  attack.  But  what  made 
a  lasting  impression  on  my  mind  is  that  no  sooner  had  the  firing  and 
yelling  announced  the  proximity  of  the  enemy  than  our  massed 
troops  began  to  deploy  into  shape  for  battle,  reminding  me  instant 
ly  of  a  monstrous  blue  snake  gracefully  uncoiling  itself  after  being 
disturbed.  I  can  shut  my  eyes  now  and  after  nearly  forty-seven  years 
see  the  whole  performance.  The  attack  was  easily  repulsed  with  no 
great  loss  to  us. 

Another  thing  I  remember  is  that  there  came  up  a  sharp  thun 
der  shower  while  we  were  there.  I  crouched  down  and  pulled  my 
gum  blanket  around  me  to  keep  my  powder  and  other  things  dry, 
and  while  in  that  position  Comrade  William  Penn  Wood,  who  had 
lost  or  thrown  away  his  gum  blanket,  snuggled  down  close  to  me  to 
get  the  benefit  of  mine.  As  neither  of  us  was  very  big  the  blanket 
answered  very  well  for  both.  Next  day  Penn  Wood,  who  was  a 
genial,  lovable  young  fellow,  was  killed  and  I  have  always  been 
glad  that  I  was  able  to  do  him  a  kindness — one  of  the  last  that  any 
body  did  for  him. 

That  night  some  of  the  boys  of  Company  I  and  Company  K 
found  a  lot  of  gold  and  silver  in  a  sweet  potato  bin  in  a  deserted 
house.  Some  of  them  carried  specie  in  their  pockets  ail  summer  and 
until  they  were  captured  at  Poplar  Spring  Church,  when  some  of 
the  Rebs — if  not  the  rightful  owners — got  their  money  back. 

In  most  of  their  marching  and  countermarching  and  the  minor 
engagements  that  occurred  after  leaving  Spottsylvania,  Grant  and 
Lee  had  been  maneuvering  for  position,  Grant  pursuing  his  usual 
tactics  of  driving  Lee  out  of  his  weak  places  and  flanking  him  out 
of  the  strong  ones.  At  Cold  Harbor — a  mere  crossroads  to  be 
sure,  but  a  place  that  commanded  the  approaches  to  Richmond  from 
that  direction — the  commander  of  the  Union  Army  was  up  against 
it,  so  to  speak.  He  must  either  fight  the  enemy  in  his  stronghold  or 
change  his  plans  entirely.  The  odds  were  tremendously  against  us 
and  almost  with  his  last  breath  Grant  said  he  was  sorry  he  had  or- 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  133 

dered  the  assault  at  Cold  Harbor.  The  fact  that  we  lost  7,000  men 
in  a  few  moments  during  the  assault  shows  what  the  Union  Army 
had  to  contend  with. 

Other  members  of  the  regiment  will  give  their  version  of  what 
the  Forty-fifth  did  or  tried  to  do  at  Cold  Harbor.  After  47  years 
the  chances  are  that  no  two  of  us  will  tell  exactly  the  same  story 
about  our  experience  at  Cold  Harbor  or  anywhere  else. 

A  letter  I  sent  home  from  the  front  written  a  few  days  after  the 
battle,  says  in  substance,  that  at  daybreak,  Friday  morning,  June  3d, 
our  brigade  under  command  of  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin,  with  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  F.  M.  Hills  in  command  of  the  Forty-fifth,  formed 
line  of  battle  and  advanced  upon  the  enemy  in  their  intrenchments  in 
our  front.  The  line  was  met  by  a  murderous  fire  of  musketry  and 
grape  and  canister  but  never  wavered,  moving  forward  steadily  un 
der  a  deadly  direct  and  cross  fire  until  within  less  than  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  enemy's  works,  when  the  command  "halt"  was  passed 
along  the  line,  and  there,  keeping  close  to  the  ground  for  protec 
tion,  what  was  left  of  the  Forty-fifth  held  their  part  of  the  advance 
line  under  fire  all  day. 

In  this  connection,  referring  to  the  assault  at  Cold  Harbor,  a 
disinterested  \vriter,  author  of  "Burnside  and  the  Ninth  Army 
Corps,"  says: 

"On  the  right  the  brunt  of  the  battle  fell  upon  the  Ninth  Corps 
*  *  *  Colonel  Curtin's  brigade  of  Potter's  division  made  a  daring 
charge,  drove  in  the  enemy's  skirmishers,  carried  some  detached 
rifle  pits,  forced  the  enemy — consisting  of  portions  of  Long- 
street's  and  Ewell's  corps — back  into  the  inner  works  and  established 
itself  in  close  proximity  to  his  intrenchments." 

Companies  G  and  H,  of  the  Forty-fifth  fought  in  a  ravine  run 
ning  partially  at  right  angles  with  the  enemy's  line,  my  letter  says. 
Down  this  ravine  the  fire  of  the  enemy  was  directed  with  fearful  ef 
fect.  Company  H  lost  heavily  in  killed  and  wounded  including  all 
the  non-commissioned  officers  but  one.  Lieutenant  George  P.  Scud- 
der,  of  Company  F,  temporarily  in  command  of  Company  H,  was 
mortally  wounded  and  died  on  the  field. 

Lieutenant  Ephraim  Jeffers,  the  only  commissioned  officer  with 
Company  G,  at  that  time,  being  temporarily  disabled  by  sickness, 
Lieutenant  John  Gelbaugh  of  Company  K,  was  assigned  to  com 
mand  the  company  that  morning.  Gelbaugh  was  severely  wounded 
almost  the  first  thing  after  the  battle  opened  and  First  Sergeant 


134     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

John  J.  Rogers  took  command  of  the  company.  Less  than  one- 
fourth  of  those  present  in  Company  G  escaped  being  hit.  William 
P.  Wood  was  killed,  Noah  H.  Robbins  and  Josiah  L.  Butler  were 
mortally  wounded  and  died  in  hospital.  These  three  young  fellows 
were  volunteer  recruits  and  had  been  with  us  but  a  few  months. 
They  were  good  soldiers.  Sergeant  Rogers,  commanding  the  com 
pany,  was  kneeling  upon  the  ground  on  the  firing  line  with  Charley 
Terbell  immediately  behind  him  when  a  Confederate  bullet  passed 
clear  through  Rogers'  body  and  ploughed  its  way  into  Terbell's  left 
knee.  That  missile  put  two  good  soldiers  out  of  business.  Rogers' 
comrades  carried  him  to  the  rear  where  Dr.  Maxwell  looked  him 
over  and  pronounced  his  case  hopeless.  Rogers  was  left  on  the  field 
to  die  but  his  wonderful  vitality  pulled  him  through  as  his  own 
statement  printed  elsewhere  in  this  book  will  show.  Terbell  was 
disabled  a  good  while  and  in  a  letter  written,  September,  1910,  a 
few  months  before  he  died,  he  said  the  wound  still  troubled  him. 

Others  of  Company  G  who  were  seriously  wounded  on  that  part 
of  the  line  were  Eli  Smith  with  loss  of  leg;  Thomas  J.  Rogers, 
brother  of  the  wounded  sergeant,  seriously  in  right  shoulder,  and 
Henry  T.  Rice  and  Henry  N.  Gile,  both  wounded  in  the  hand.  C. 
H.  Rogers,  John  Hauber,  James  Dickinson,  S.  L.  Hakes  and  P.  P. 
Smith  wrere  also  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  but  less  seriously. 

Undoubtedly  many  thrilling  incidents  occurred  on  that  part  of 
the  field  in  connection  with  the  Forty-fifth,  which  others  who  were 
present  will  describe.  My  duty  was  elsewhere  that  morning  as  will 
appear  presently. 

Our  old  color-sergeant,  "Joe"  Reigle,  was  shot  down  during  the 
assault  that  morning.  Very  likely  some  comrade  who  was  present 
will  give  the  details  of  that  exciting  incident. 

We  all  remember  that  about  dark  on  the  evening  before  the 
Battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  part  of  Company  G  were  detailed  for  picket. 
I  remember  it  especially  well  because  I  was  included  in  the  detail 
and  thought  it  was  pretty  hard  luck  to  have  to  be  out  on  picket  all 
night  after  what  we  had  gone  through.  But  we  seldom  know  what 
is  best  for  us.  Being  out  on  picket  that  night  may  have  saved  my 
skin  the  next  day. 

In  this  connection  Lieutenant  T.  J.  Davies  (sergeant  then),  who 
had  charge  of  the  Company  G  contingent,  reminds  me  that  the  pick 
ets  were  thrown  out  about  40  rods  in  front  and  deployed  as  skirm 
ishers  at  the  edge  of  the  woods  to  protect  the  right  flank  of  our 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  135 

brigade  against  surprise  from  that  quarter.  We  were  out  all  night 
and  a  long,  dark,  dismal  night  it  was  out  there  on  picket  in  the 
woods.  Quite  early  in  the  morning,  but  not  until  the  first  shock  of 
the  assault  was  over,  the  pickets  were  relieved  and  we  took  our  places 
on  the  firing  line  some  distance  to  the  right  from  where  the  bal 
ance  of  the  regiment  were  engaged;  part  of  the  duty  assigned  to 
us  being  to  help  silence  a  Rebel  battery  by  a  flanking  fire  on  the  gun 
ners.  The  guns  were  silenced  and  all  the  battery  horses  shot  down. 

I  have  a  comparatively  vivid  recollection  of  some  other  things 
that  happened  there.  Abram  V.  Gile,  of  Company  G,  another  of 
our  volunteer  recruits,  was  shot  dead  within  a  few  feet  of  me  just 
before  reaching  the  position  assigned  to  us.  A  little  later  Allen 
Thompson  and  I  were  standing  side  by  side  behind  temporary  breast 
works,  exchanging  shots  with  some  Johnnies,  also  behind  rifle  pits 
twenty  or  twenty-five  rods  across  the  field,  when  I  heard  that  sick 
ening  "chug"  the  familiar  sound  of  lead  or  iron  striking  against 
flesh  and  bone.  A  Rebel  bullet  had  struck  Thompson  squarely 
in  the  groin.  It  was  a  nasty  wound  but  Thompson  made  no  fuss. 
He  was  a  quiet  man  with  lots  of  grit  and  never  said  much.  The 
boys  will  remember  that  with  his  round  head  and  pug  nose  Allen 
always  reminded  us  of  a  bull  dog.  He  managed  to  get  back  to  the 
rear  and  that  was  the  last  I  saw  of  him.  He  partially  recovered  and 
served  some  time  in  the  Veteran  Reserve  Corps. 

For  better  protection  and  to  save  my  own  "bacon"  I  found  a 
couple  of  solid  rails  and  put  them  on  top  the  barricade  in  front  of  me 
and  pretty  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  a  bullet  strike  the 
top  rail  directly  in  line  with  my  "solar  plexus."  It  was  a  narrow 
escape  all  right;  but  we  all  took  desperate  chances  in  those  days. 
Undoubtedly  that  piece  of  wood  saved  my  life. 

Early  in  the  evening  after  things  had  quieted  down  some,  having 
had  no  rest  the  night  before,  I  lay  down  and  dropped  to  sleep,  al 
most  as  soon  as  I  touched  the  ground.  But  it  was  a  short  nap. 
some  artillerymen,  to  give  the  Johnnies  across  the  field  a  dose  of 
grape  and  canister,  brought  a  cannon  close  up  to  where  I  was  lying 
down  behind  the  breastworks  and  fired  it  directly  over  my  head.  It 
didn't  quite  "bust"  the  ear  drum,  but  it  was  a  day  or  two  before  I 
could  hear  much  of  anything  but  the  explosion  of  a  cannon  close  to 
my  right  ear ! 

Among  the  mortally  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  was  Major  Ed 
ward  A.  Kelsey,  of  the  Forty-fifth.  His  death,  which  occurred  June 


136     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

24th,  just  three  weeks  after  the  battle,  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  regi 
ment.  Major  Kelsey  was  a  good  soldier.  His  military  career  be 
gan  as  second  lieutenant  of  Company  F,  Second  Regiment,  three 
months  men,  of  which  Thomas  Welsh  (our  own  Tom)  was  lieu 
tenant-colonel.  When  the  Forty-fifth  was  organized  Lieutenant 
Kelsey  was  elected  captain  of  Company  K.  In  July,  1863,  ne  was 
promoted  to  major  and  but  for  his  untimely  death  would  have  been 
the  logical  successor  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hills  and  commanded 
the  regiment  after  Hills  was  mustered  out  in  August,  1864. 

The  monthly  report  of  Company  G,  for  May,  1864,  shows  that 
on  the  last  day  of  that  month  we  had  one  commissioned  officer  and 
forty-one  enlisted  men  present  for  duty.  But  that  doesn't  mean 
that  that  many  of  the  company  took  part  in  the  Battle  of  Cold  Har 
bor  three  days  later.  Campaigning  as  we  were  among  the  swamps 
of  the  peninsula  between  the  Pamunkey  and  Chickahominy  Rivers 
there  was  considerable  sickness  in  camp,  mostly  cases  of  malaria  and' 
bowel  trouble.  Soldiers — good  soldiers  too — were  liable  to  be  dis 
abled  on  short  notice  and  excused  from  duty  by  the  surgeon.  A 
typical  case  is  that  of  Lieutenant  Jeffers  of  our  company.  Jeffers 
was  brave  and  never  shirked  a  duty,  yet  he  was  taken  suddenly  ill 
and  was  unable  to  be  with  the  company  during  the  assault  of  June 
3rd.  The  chances  are  that  several  enlisted  men  in  the  company 
were  also  excused  by  the  doctor  that  morning,  although  no  record 
has  been  preserved  to  that  effect.  Had  we  counted  noses  in  the  ten 
companies  of  the  regiment  on  the  firing  line  at  Cold  Harbor  there 
might  have  been  more  than  three  hundred  but  I  doubt  it.  There 
were,  it  appears,  16  casualties,  four  of  them  fatal,  in  Company  G; 
but  without  the  company  morning  reports  or  other  official  returns 
to  refer  to,  no  one  can  give  the  exact  number  of  casualties  in  the 
regiment  at  Cold  Harbor  or  anywhere  else.  Our  loss  at  Cold  Har 
bor  has  been  variously  given  from  160  to  180  or  more.  Taking 
the  minimum  figure  and  assuming  that  three  hundred  were  engaged, 
our  percentage  of  loss  would  be  53  1-3.  Colonel  Fox,  the  best  au 
thority  we  have  on  the  mortuary  statistics  of  the  Civil  War,  in  his 
book  "Regimental  Losses,"  says  we  had  315  men  engaged  (prob 
ably  counting  some  who  were  excused  from  duty)  and  that  our  to 
tal  loss  was  181,  including  45  killed  or  mortally  wounded  and  22 
missing.  In  this  way  he  figures  out  that  the  Forty-fifth  lost  57.4 
per  cent,  of  the  number  of  men  engaged  at  Cold  Harbor. 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  137 

In  the  historic  charge  at  Balaklava,  made  famous  by  story  and 
song,  the  English  Light  Brigade  lost  only  36.7  per  cent.,  yet  nobody 
has  written  a  poem  or  a  song  about  the  Forty-fifth  at  Cold  Harbor, 
nor  are  we  making  a  special  claim  for  conspicuous  service  that  day. 
The  fact  is  that  our  regiment  participated  in  so  many  engagements 
where  the  losses  were  severe  that  nobody  is  making  a  fuss  over 
what  we  did  in  any  one  battle. 

Saturday  morning,  June  4th,  we  found  the  enemy  had  evacuated 
their  works  in  front  during  the  night.  The  first  thing  we  did  was 
to  give  our  guns  a  good  cleaning.  They  needed  it  badly  enough. 
Guns  always  need  cleaning  after  a  battle.  Frequently  when  the 
fighting  is  brisk  the  inside  of  a  muzzle  loading  gun  gets  so  dirty 
that  it  is  impossible  to  use  it. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  they  marched  us  off  into  a  piece 
of  woods  a  few  miles  to  the  left  where  we  relieved  some  other  troops. 
The  Rebels  must  have  located  our  position  for  they  shelled  us  but 
did  no  great  damage.  Next  day  the  regiment  marched  across  a 
swamp  and  built  breastworks.  Sunday  morning,  June  6th,  the  pick 
ets  got  busy  in  our  front.  Lieutenant  Ephraim  Jeffers  of  Company 
G,  and  Lieutenant  D.  C.  Hoig,  of  Company  I,  went  to  the  extreme 
front  to  try  conclusions  with  the  Rebel  sharpshooters.  As  com 
missioned  officers  they  really  had  no  business  out  there,  but  both 
being  good  shots  that  sort  of  thing  was  rare  fun  for  them.  In  a 
little  while  they  brought  poor  Hoig  back  on  a  stretcher.  I  remem 
ber  it  as  though  it  were  yesterday.  A  tiny  hole  in  his  breast  over 
the  heart  showed  where  the  bullet  went  in.  The  chances  are  that 
he  never  knew  what  hit  him.  Hoig  was  a  promising  young  officer 
and  popular  with  the  men.  His  death  cast  a  gloom  over  the  left 
wing  of  the  regiment,  especially  the  Tioga  County  boys  who  knew 
him  best. 

Next  day  occurred  one  of  those  minor  affairs  not  important 
enough  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  average  historian  but  import 
ant  enough  to  leave  a  lasting  impression  on  the  minds  of  those  who 
were  mixed  up  in  it.  Pursuant  to  orders  from  Colonel  Curt  in,  Lieu 
tenant  Jeffers  with  a  strong  detail  from  the  left  wing  of  the  regi 
ment  made  a  reconnoissance  of  the  enemy's  line  opposite  our  right 
flank.  Starting  before  daylight  and  making  a  wide  detour  to  avoid 
attracting  the  enemy's  attention  we  got  around  in  rear  of  the  Rebel 
picket  line  partly  intrenched  in  an  open  field.  One  of  their  picket 
posts  was  in  a  log  house  in  plain  sight  of  our  position  in  the  edge 


138     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

of  the  woods.  Jeffers  lined  up  a  lot  of  us  where  we  had  a  good  view 
of  the  Johnnies  outside  the  house  sunning  themselves.  We  gave 
them  a  volley  and  I  can  shut  my  eyes  now  and  see  those  fellows 
grab  their  guns  and  skeedaddle  into  the  house.  We  surprised  them 
all  right,  but  our  position  between  the  enemy's  pickets  and  their  main 
line  was  more  ticklish  than  we  were  aware  of.  After  a  while  we 
heard  a  bugle  call  in  the  enemy's  camp  and  the  next  thing  was  the 
familiar  Rebel  yell  followed  by  a  volley  of  musketry  behind  us. 
Looking  around,  there  was  a  line  of  battle  coming  at  us  on  the 
double-quick  through  the  woods.  No  two  of  us  agree  exactly  as  to 
what  occurred  after  that.  To  try  to  hold  our  ground  was  to  be 
surrounded  and  gobbled  up.  My  recollection  is  that  we  gave  them 
a  volley  or  two  and  then  it  was  a  case  of  every  one  for  himself  and 
the  Devil  (in  a  gray  uniform)  take  the  hind  most.  Which  he  did. 
Anyhow  Privates  Warren  Munn  and  Stephen  Nott  were  captured 
and  perished  miserably  in  Andersonville  Prison;  Corporal  Samuel 
Rogers  was  severely  wounded  in  the  leg  but  managed  to  get  away. 
Several  of  us  made  good  our  retreat  by  wading  a  supposedly  im 
passable  swamp.  It  was  a  foolhardy  undertaking  all  around  and  the 
great  wonder  is  that  we  were  not  all  captured. 

For  several  days  after  this  exciting  incident  things  were  com 
paratively  quiet  in  our  front.  But  that  sort  of  thing  didn't  last 
long. 

All  day  Sunday,  June  I2th,  there  seemed  to  be  a  hum  of  prep 
aration  in  camp  that  told  us  something  important  was  brewing.  We 
know,  now,  if  we  did  not  know  it  then,  that  Grant  was  getting  ready 
to  execute  his  famous  flank  movement  from  Cold  Harbor  to  the 
vicinity  of  Petersburg.  Early  Sunday  evening  when  we  ought  to 
have  been  going  to  church  we  got  orders  to  move.  Silently  and 
quickly  the  Ninth  Corps  withdrew  from  the  works  in  front  of  the 
enemy,  leaving  a  strong  skirmish  line  to  cover  our  retreat.  Lee 
didn't  know  we  had  gone  until  next  morning.  A  rapid  all  night's 
march  of  15  miles  brought  us  in  sight  of  the  Chickahominy  River. 
Resting  during  the  forenoon  we  started  again  at  one  o'clock  and 
marching  in  a  southerly  direction,  our  course  nearly  parallel  with 
that  of  the  river,  we  kept  on  at  a  lively  gait  all  the  afternoon.  Stop 
ping  toward  night  to  make  coffee  and  rest  a  while,  the  march  was 
resumed  and  continued  until  one  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  I4th. 
Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  we  crossed  the  Chick 
ahominy  at  Jones  Bridge. 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  139 

At  i  P.  M.,  we  started  across  the  peninsula.  The  weather  was 
hot  and  getting  hotter  all  the  time.  The  dusty  roads  were  crowded 
with  troops  and  altogether  it  \vas  tough  marching.  To  partly  off 
set  this  our  march,  especially  after  crossing  the  Chickahominy,  was 
through  the  finest  farming  country  we  had  seen  in  Virginia.  Big 
fields  of  waving  grain  nearly  ready  for  the  sickle  and  orchards  load 
ed  with  fruit  contrasted  sharply  with  the  desolate  fields  in  other 
parts  of  the  State.  As  our  columns  advanced  the  growing  crops 
were  trampled  down  a  good  deal  and  much  other  property  destroyed, 
although  our  generals  went  through  the  motions  of  posting  guards 
to  prevent  that  sort  of  thing. 

About  ten  o'clock  that  night  we  bivouacked  within  two  miles 
of  the  James  River.  Thursday,  the  T5th,  we  lay  in  camp  all  day 
and  after  our  strenuous  march  of  fifty  odd  miles  from  Cold  Har 
bor  it  seemed  mighty  good  to  rest  a  while.  My  diary  says  we 
crossed  the  James  River  on  a  pontoon  bridge  between  eleven  and 
twelve  o'clock  at  night,  June  I5th.  The  river  where  we  crossed 
was  about  2,100  feet  wide  and  it  took  101  pontoon  boats  to  build  a 
bridge  across  it.  These  boats  were  fastened  to  vessels  anchored 
above  and  below  the  bridge  for  that  purpose.  From  midnight 
June  I4th,  when  the  bridge  was  completed,  until  midnight  of  the  i6th 
there  was  a  continuous  movement  of  troops,  artillery  and  wagon 
trains  across  the  big  bridge;  and  the  army  didn't  all  cross  on  the 
bridge  either.  A  lot  of  ferry  boats  were  busy  all  the  time  taking 
men  and  material  across  the  stream.  The  approaches  to  the  river 
were  alive  with  troops  marching  here  and  there  or  waiting  their 
turn  to  cross.  Drums  and  brass  bands  filled  the  air  with  martial 
music.  Few  incidents  in  the  varied  career  of  the  Forty-fifth  were 
more  impressive  and  spectacular  than  crossing  the  James  River  be 
tween  eleven  o'clock  and  midnight  June  I5th,  1864. 

A  forced  march  of  25  miles — 25  dusty,  weary  miles — brought  us 
to  the  enemy's  outer  line  of  works  before  Petersburg  about  four 
o'clock,  Thursday  afternoon,  June  i6th.  Loaded  down  as  we  were 
with  more  rations  and  ammunition  than  we  usually  carried,  the  pace 
on  this  march  was  too  much  for  some  of  the  men.  I  know  that 
several  of  Company  G  dropped  out  of  the  ranks  because  they  were 
completely  bushed,  and  followed  at  a  less  strenuous  pace.  But  so 
far  as  I  know  every  "straggler"  in  the  company  was  in  his  place  in 
the  ranks  when  his  services  were  needed  at  the  front. 


140     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Arriving  before  Petersburg,  the  Ninth  Corps  took  position  on 
the  left  of  the  Second  Corps.  Our  brigade  under  Colonel  Curtin 
was  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  corps  and  the  Forty-fifth  on  the  left 
of  the  brigade;  so  that  for  once  we  were  on  the  extreme  left  of  the 
Union  Army.  About  dark  or  a  little  before,  Barlow's  division  of 
the  Second  Corps  attacked  and  turned  the  enemy's  right  flank,  our 
division  under  General  Potter  supporting  the  attack. 

Before  daylight  next  morning  our  division  made  a  charge  and 
carried  two  redoubts,  according  to  my  diary.  Referring  to  this  at 
tack  General  Potter  in  his  official  report  says :  "Canteens  and  cups 
were  packed  in  haversacks  to  prevent  noise  and  orders  were  given 
to  rely  upon  the  bayonet  and  not  fire  a  shot.  The  brigades  moved 
promptly  at  3  A.  M.,  and  rushed  at  once  on  the  enemy's  works,  car 
rying  their  lines,  taking  four  pieces  of  cannon,  five  colors,  some  six 
hundred  prisoners  and  about  fifteen  hundred  stand  of  small  arms.'* 
This  quotation  from  Potter's  report,  written  a  few  days  after  the 
engagement,  is  better  than  anything  we  can  give  from  memory  after 
all  these  years. 

No  fatal  casualties  that  I  am  aware  of  occurred  in  the  Forty- 
fifth  during  this  attack.  The  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  of  our  bri 
gade,  who  were  on  the  front  line,  lost  six  killed  and  13  wounded. 

Saturday  morning,  June  i8th,  we  found  that  the  enemy  had 
abandoned  their  \vorks  in  our  front  during  the  night.  They  had  re 
tired  to  another  intrenched  line  a  mile  or  so  nearer  Petersburg.  A 
general  advance  was  made  in  the  afternoon.  The  Forty-fifth  was 
in  the  front  line. 

In  the  meantime  one  of  our  color-bearers,  Corporal  Thomas 
Evers,  of  Company  D,  was  disabled  or  became  exhausted,  rather, 
and  the  adjutant  detailed  Corporal  C.  T.  Kelley,  of  Company  G, 
temporarily  to  fill  Evers'  place.  Anticipating  our  story  a  short  time 
we  might  say  that  Kelley  carried  the  flag  until  a  few  days  before 
the  Mine  Explosion  when  Evers  took  it  again  and  carried  it  until 
the  flag  was  sent  back  to  Harrisburg  in  October,  1864. 

The  ground  before  us  was  mostly  open  and  fully  exposed  to  the 
concentrated  fire  of  the  enemy's  rifle  pits  and  batteries  just  as  the 
Rebs  intended  it  should  be.  The  direction  of  our  advance  took  us 
over  the  Petersburg  and  Norfolk  railroad,  which  at  this  point  ran 
diagonally  across  our  front.  The  enemy  made  a  stout  resistance 
in  the  railroad  cut.  Railroad  cuts  were  frequently  used  for  breast 
works  during  the  war.  We  made  several  charges  during  the  after- 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  141 

noon  driving  the  enemy  before  us  into  their  works  some  distance 
beyond  the  railroad. 

To  avoid  the  enemy's  fire  over  the  worst  places  part  of  our  ad 
vance  was  made  on  the  double-quick.  The  last  spurt  of  that  kind 
we  made  seemed  to  me  more  like  a  "dead  run."  Used  up  and  sore 
as  I  was  from  the  effects  of  our  last  march,  the  pace  was  more  than 
I  could  stand  and  I  soon  found  myself  several  rods  behind  the  regi 
ment,  which  had  reached  a  point  where  the  lay  of  the  land  afforded 
some  protection.  The  enemy's  works  were  in  plain  sight  and  within 
easy  musket  range.  I  made  a  "charge"  in  which  I  was  the  "whole 
push"  and  the  way  the  bullets  cut  the  June  grass  around  my  feet 
made  me  think  a  whole  regiment  of  Johnnies  were  firing  at  one  lone 
"Yank"  trying  to  catch  up  with  his  company.  Maybe  my  size  or 
lack  of  size  saved  my  skin  that  day.  Anyway,  they  never  touched 
me. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock,  if  I  remember  the  time,  we  were 
in  a  sort  of  ravine  or  hollow  considerably  lower  than  the  ground 
beyond,  where  we  knew  the  Confederate  works  to  be,  close  by.  Ex 
pecting  every  minute  to  be  ordered  to  climb  the  bank  and  charge 
the  works  I  found  myself  wondering  how  many  of  us  would  live 
to  reach  them.  But  this  was  another  case  of  borrowing  trouble. 
The  sword  of  Damocles  suspended  over  our  heads  by  a  hair  never 
dropped.  Instead  of  making  any  more  charges  that  night  we 
stayed  where  we  were  till  after  dark,  then  quietly  advancing  a  short 
distance  we  established  a  line  within  about  a  hundred  yards  of  the 
Rebel  works  and  fortified  it  temporarily  as  well  as  we  could  in  the 
night.  Having  no  idea  then  that  we  were  to  occupy  that  same 
line  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  during  which  there  was  no  cessa 
tion  of  hostilities  and  no  uninterrupted  rest  for  any  of  us. 

The  1 8th  of  June  had  been  a  strenuous  day  for  the  Forty-fifth. 
Three  of  the  regiment  were  killed  and  eighteen  severely  wounded. 
Corporal  Charles  H.  Wilday,  of  Company  G,  one  of  the  very  best 
soldiers  in  the  company,  was  mortally  wounded  and  died  July  6th 
following.  Colonel  Curtin  commanding  our  brigade  was  struck 
in  the  shoulder  by  a  minie  ball  and  severely  wounded,  the  com 
mand  of  the  brigade  then  devolving  on  Colonel  Bliss  of  the  Sev 
enth  Rhode  Island. 

"No  better  fighting  has  been  done  during  the  war  than  was 
done  by  the  divisions  of  Potter  and  Wilcox  during  this  attack," 
General  Burnsicle  says  in  his  report  of  what  we  did  on  the  iSth  of 


142     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

June,  1864.  The  line  we  established  that  night  was  a  salient  nearer 
to  the  enemy's  works  than  any  other  part  of  the  Union  line.  Some 
two  hundred  feet  in  our  rear  was  quite  a  deep  hollow  or  ravine  from 
which  the  ground  rose  sharply  to  our  works  and  then  more  grad 
ually  to  the  enemy's  about  300  feet  farther.  The  hollow  referred 
to,  which  was  out  of  sight  of  the  enemy,  is  where  excavation  started 
for  the  famous  Burnside  Mine,  which  others  will  describe.  The 
siege  of  Petersburg  began  on  the  i8th  of  June,  1864,  and  ended 
on  the  2d  of  April,  1865.  The  Forty-fifth  was  part  of  the  besieging 
force  from  start  to  finish.  We  helped  to  establish  the  Union  line 
farthest  in  advance  in  the  first  place.  The  regiment  was  actively 
engaged  in  the  siege  all  the  way  through,  sustaining  heavy  losses, 
as  the  records  will  show ;  and  we  were  in  at  the  death  on  the  2nd 
of  April,  1865,  when  the  Confederate  works  were  carried  by  assault, 
the  victory  which  the  Forty-fifth  helped  to  achieve  that  morning 
being  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  war. 

Referring  to  my  diary  again  I  find  that  June  2Oth  "we  drew  ra 
tions  of  whiskey."  Half  a  gill  (four  spoonfuls)  was  called  a  ra 
tion.  The  officers  probably  got  theirs  in  more  liberal  doses  at  the 
commissary  department.  Sometimes  in  case  of  ' 'emergency"  they 
were  kind  enough  to  sign  an  order  for  a  canteen  full  of  "the  same" 
to  be  delivered  to  an  enlisted  man.  If  some  of  the  boys  in  Company 
G  occasionally  signed  Lieutenant  Jeffers'  name  to  an  order  of  that 
kind  nobody  was  ever  punished  for  forgery  on  that  account.  Some 
of  us,  the  boys  said,  could  sign  the  lieutenant's  name  more  natural 
ly  than  Jeffers  could  himself ! 

As  a  general  thing  the  two  brigades  of  our  division  relieved 
each  other  at  the  front  every  48  hours.  At  first  the  changes  were 
made  in  the  night  to  avoid  attracting  the  attention  of  the  enemy. 
In  a  few  days,  however,  we  had  dug  a  ditch  or  covered  way  and 
could  go  back  and  forth  with  comparative  safety. 

The  work  of  digging  for  the  Burnside  Mine  began  at  noon  on 
Saturday,  June  25th.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Pleasants  and  his  regi 
ment  of  miners,  the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania,  who  did  the  work, 
belonged  to  our  brigade.  Starting  in  the  ravine  about  two  hun 
dred  feet  in  rear  of  Company  G  of  our  regiment  the  main  gallery 
of  the  mine  passed  under  our  works  about  20  feet  below  the  sur 
face  of  the  ground  we  stood  on.  The  work  of  excavation  and  pre 
paring  the  mine — or  as  much  of  it  as  could  be  seen  from  the  outside 
— was  done  under  our  noses  from  start  to  finish.  To  distract  the 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  143 

attention  of  the  enemy  and  prevent  them  from  peeping  over  to  see 
what  was  going  on  we  kept  up  an  irregular  fusillade  day  and  night 
and  they  gave  us  as  good  as  we  sent.  At  that  distance — the  lines 
were  less  than  20  rods  apart — and  both  sides  alert  and  watchful, 
somebody  was  shot  every  day.  You  couldn't  raise  a  hand  over  the 
breastworks  without  drawing  the  enemy's  fire. 

Looking  at  my  diary  for  the  Fourth  of  July,  I  find  that  three 
members  of  Company  G  were  wounded  on  the  firing  line  during  the 
day:  Sergeant  Jasper  R.  White  and  Privates  Morris  Smith  and 
Peter  Bellinger,  all  wounded  in  the  head.  As  a  matter  of  fact  all 
who  \vere  hit  in  the  works  during  the  excavation  of  the  mine  were 
struck  above  the  shoulders  while  watching  to  get  a  shot  at  the 
Johnnies  through  the  port-holes.  The  chances  are  there  were  as 
many  sore  heads  on  the  other  side  as  among  our  fellows.  We  took 
chances  and  improved  every  opportunity  to  shoot  at  anything  that 
looked  like  a  head.  Sometimes  they  fooled  us  by  holding  up  an  old 
hat  on  the  end  of  a  ram  rod.  Sergeant  White  was  wounded 'in  a 
peculiar  manner.  A  Rebel  bullet  flattened  itself  against  the  limb 
of  a  cedar  tree  that  stood  maybe  ten  or  fifteen  feet  in  front  of  our 
works  and  glancing  downward  struck  White  on  the  bridge  of  his 
nose  squarely  between  the  eyes.  The  wound  though  painful  was 
not  serious.  To  avoid  a  repetition  of  that  sort  of  thing,  however, 
and  because  the  tree  was  a  nuisance  anyhow,  interfering  with  our 
view  of  the  enemy's  works,  the  boys  decided  to  get  rid  of  the  tree 
by  shooting  it  down!  In  fact  that  was  the  only  way  to  get  rid  of  it. 
We  had  some  good  choppers  in  the  company  but  none  of  them  vol 
unteered  to  wield  an  axe  between  the  lines  in  plain  sight  of  the 
enemy  less  than  a  hundred  yards  distant.  It  took  some  time  and  a 
lot  of  powder  and  lead  to  down  the  tree ;  but  the  ammunition  used 
made  but  little  impression  on  Uncle  Sam's  cartridge  box,  especially 
when  we  consider  that  it  took  about  a  ton  of  lead  to  kill  a  man  in 
the  Civil  \var,  so  one  writer  says.  The  tree  we  shot  down  was  about 
ten  inches  through  at  the  butt. 

We  had  gotten  it  into  our  heads  that  something  unusual  was 
going  to  happen  before  Petersburg  on  the  Fourth  of  July  and  would 
n't  have  been  at  all  surprised  if  a  general  attack  had  been  made 
all  along  the  line.  And  it  was  a  disappointment  to  us  that  the  day 
passed  off  so  quietly.  There  were  plenty  of  "fireworks"  at  the  front 
to  be  sure  and  a  few  shells  in  the  evening  instead  of  rockets,  but  we 
had  got  used  to  that  sort  of  thing  and  it  didn't  count. 


144     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

The  casualties  referred  to  and  the  fact  that  we  had  plenty  of 
ice  cold  lemonade  are  all  I  thought  was  worth  mentioning  in  my 
diary  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  The  boys  had  discovered  a  well  filled 
ice  house  near  the  picket  line  but  unfortunately  for  us  in  plain  sight 
of  the  enemy.  Some  of  our  fellows  were  killed  by  Rebel  sharp 
shooters  while  trying  to  get  ice  for  their  lemonade,  with  maybe  a 
"stick"  in  it.  All  the  same  the  boys  took  chances  and  frequently 
brought  chunks  of  ice  into  camp. 

Other  unexpected  luxuries  that  came  to  us  during  the  early 
stages  of  the  siege  of  Petersburg  were  daily  allowances  of  pickles, 
dried  apples,  cabbages,  radishes,  etc.,  furnished  by  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission  with  headquarters  at  City  Point. 

As  the  season  advanced  we  suffered  much  from  heat.  The  fre 
quent  discharge  of  cannon  and  a  small  arms  day  and  night  gave  the 
atmosphere  a  sulphurous  smell,  reminding  us  of  that  other  place 
(if  it  is  a  place)  that  we  hear  about  so  much !  It  was  an  easy  mat 
ter  for  us  to  see  the  steeples  of  Petersburg  from  some  parts  of  our 
line,  and  the  shrill  notes  of  the  car  whistle  and  rumble  of  moving 
trains  reminded  us  every  day  that  the  beleaguered  town  wras  alive 
and  doing  business  at  the  old  stand.  We  were  losing  men  every 
day.  Company  G  at  any  rate  was  unfortunate.  On  the  i8th  of 
July,  John  Hauber  was  mortally  wounded  by  a  shot  in  the  breast 
while  filling  some  canteens  for  his  comrades  at  a  spring  in  rear  of 
our  works.  John  was  one  of  the  "humorists"  of  Company  G.  We 
missed  his  droll  songs  and  funny  jokes.  A  few  days  later  Corporal 
David  W.  Reese  was  severely  wounded,  a  minie  ball  ploughing  its 
way  around  one  side  of  his  head.  July  2ist,  Lieutenant  Ephraim 
Jeffers  was  put  out  of  business  by  an  ugly  wound  in  the  face,  that 
perforated  his  cheek  and  disfigured  him  for  life. 

Three  days  later  Sergeant  T.  J.  Davies  was  shot  in  the  head 
and  nearly  killed  at  the  same  porthole  where  Jeffers  was  hit  and  as 
likely  as  not  by  the  same  sharpshooter.  We  learned  afterward  that 
some  sharpshooters  with  globe  sights  on  their  guns  had  been  as- 
igned  to  duty  opposite  our  part  of  the  line  on  purpose  to  silence  the 
Yankee  marksmen  who  had  been  picking  off  everything  that  showed 
up  above  the  parapet  or  at  the  port-holes  in  the  Confederate  works. 
Presumably  other  companies  lost  as  many  man  as  we  did.  Some 
mortar  batteries  planted  over  the  hill  toward  Petersburg  annoyed  us 
a  good  deal.  By  careful,  persistent  experiments  the  gunners  had  the 
range  perfectly.  At  first  the  fuses  of  their  shells  were  too  short. 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  145 

They  burst  so  high  up  that  fragments  of  the  shells  dropped  among 
their  own  men,  the  opposing  lines  were  so  close  together.  Very 
likely  someone  was  on  a  lookout,  a  tree  maybe,  signaling  the  Rebel 
gunners  the  result  of  each  shot.  Anyway  the  shells  kept  dropping 
nearer  and  nearer  until  it  kept  us  busy  dodging  them.  Experience 
had  taught  us  that  a  good  way  to  dodge  a  shell  when  we  saw  it  com 
ing  was  to  drop  flat  down  to  avoid  the  flying  pieces  if  the  plaguy 
thing  burst,  which  it  generally  did.  Sometimes,  however,  the  fuse 
was  too  long  and  the  shell  buried  itself  out  of  sight  in  the  ground 
without  exploding.  The  chances  are  that  some  of  those  mortar 
shells  are  there  now.  It  seems  almost  a  miracle  that  nobody  in  the 
regiment  so  far  as  I  know  (certainly  none  in  Company  G)  was 
killed  or  wounded  by  the  artillery  fire  on  that  part  of  the  line.  Our 
casualties  were  all  caused  by  Confederate  sharpshooters.  But  the 
enemy  didn't  confine  their  cannonading  to  our  advanced  line.  Every 
once  in  a  while  a  shell  would  come  whistling  or  shrieking  over  into 
our  camp  where  we  stayed  while  the  Second  Brigade  was  on  duty 
at  the  front.  This  camp  was  in  a  piece  of  \voods  about  a  half  mile 
in  rear  of  the  salient  we  occupied  at  the  front.  Like  unwelcome  vis 
itors  these  shells,  and  sometimes  solid  shot,  were  liable  to  drop  in 
on  us  most  any  time  of  the  day  or  night.  To  guard  against  them  to 
a  certain  extent  some  of  the  officers  built  barricades  of  logs  near 
their  tents  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy.  One  day  a  shell  came 
over  about  noon  or  a  little  before  making  the  usual  fuss  as  though 
to  warn  us  to  get  out  of  the  way.  On  it  came  making  a  bee  line  for 
the  quarters  of  Company  G.  "Which  one,  which  one?"  we  could 
almost  hear  it  say,  and  finally  with  a  satisfied  "You-u-u !"  landed  un 
der  the  camp  kettle  where  Jim  Mickle,  the  company  cook,  was  mak 
ing  soup  for  dinner.  Fortunately  the  fuse  was  too  long  and  the  shell 
didn't  burst.  If  it  had — but  it  didn't,  and  the  worst  damage  done, 
besides  scaring  the  cook  out  of  his  wits,  was  to  "pepper"  the  soup 
too  freely  with  ashes  and  scatter  the  fire  galley-west. 

Toward  the  last  of  July  work  on  the  Burnside  Mine,  that  we 
were  interested  in  and  had  been  watching  as  well  as  we  could  from 
the  outside,  stopped.  They  told  us  the  mine  was  finished  and  na 
turally  we  wondered  what  would  happen  next.  We  had  seen  300 
or  400  men  of  the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  working 
day  and  night  for  a  month  or  more  at  that  tunnel  under  the  hill 
where  the  Confederate  fort  was;  we  had  seen  them  carry  out  in 
cracker  boxes  and  dump  in  the  ravine  behind  us  18,000  cubic  feet 


146     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

of  dirt,  and  toting  in  a  lot  of  timber  to  build  the  gallery  of  the 
mine ;  and  afterward  had  seen  the  miners  carry  in  320  kegs  of 
powder  (we  did  not  count  them  then  but  knew  afterward  there 
were  that  many),  and  now  we  wondered  what  the  upshot  of  all 
this  would  be.  The  "upshot,"  as  it  turned  out,  was  all  right  and 
that's  about  all  there  was  of  it  for  us  so  far  as  any  beneficial  results 
were  concerned.  To  others  has  been  assigned  the  task  of  describ 
ing  the  explosion  of  the  mine  and  the  assault  on  the  Crater  after 
ward.  The  mine  itself  was  a  brilliant  success.  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Pleasants  of  the  Forty-Eighth,  who  conceived  the  idea  and  under 
great  difficulties  carried  on  the  work,  was  recommended  for  a 
brevet  by  General  Potter  for  conspicuous  services  in  managing  the 
mine  "which  was  sprung  on  July  3Oth  in  front  of  the  Ninth  Army 
Corps." 

The  assault,  after  the  explosion,  failed,  but  the  men  who  made  it 
were  not  to  blame.  Read  history  and  see  how  well  they  fought.  All 
they  needed  was  a  leader — a  leader  who  knew  his  business  and  was 
not  afraid  to  be  on  the  spot  and  tell  the  men  what  to  do.  With  eith 
er  Potter  or  Wilcox,  division  commanders  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  in 
command  at  the  Crater  instead  of  Lecllie  the  chances  are  that  we 
would  have  gone  into  Petersburg  that  morning,  and  not  as  prisoners 
either,  as  some  of  the  boys  did.  General  Grant,  who  never  talked 
through  his  hat  said  afterward,  "Such  an  opportunity  for  carrying 
a  fortified  line  I  have  never  seen  and  never  expect  to  see  again." 

Others  will  tell  what  the  Forty-fifth  did  or  tried  to  do  that  day. 
Captain  Gregg,  who  commanded  the  regiment,  was  recommended 
for  promotion  "for  his  gallantry  and  good  efforts  in  rallying  the  men 
to  defend  the  Crater  and  for  his  courage  and  daring  in  three  per 
sonal  encounters  with  Rebel  officers  each  time  killing  his  antagonist." 

Many  other  acts  of  heroism  were  performed  that  day  that  will 
never  be  known.  The  lips  that  could  tell  the  story  are  closed  for 
ever.  Brave  men  were  shot  down,  bayonetted  and  clubbed  to  death 
fighting  like  demons  in  that  veritable  "jaws  of  death  and  mouth  of 
hell,"  which  is  about  what  the  place  amounted  to  for  those  who  were 
killed  or  captured ! 

In  a  letter  written  in  camp  a  few  days  after  the  mine  disaster 
and  which  ought  to  be  reliable,  I  say :  "Our  regiment  went  in  with 
less  than  200  men  (including  about  half  of  that  number  who  were 
left  on  the  skirmish  line  and  didn't  go  into  the  Crater),  and  lost 
47,  including  seven  commissioned  officers,  killed,  wounded  and  cap- 


From  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg  147 

tured.  Company  G  lost  seven  out  of  13.  Private  Philemon  Sloat, 
one  of  those  left  in  our  works  with  Captain  Fessler,  was  struck 
on  the  head  by  a  piece  of  shell  and  died  next  day.  Besides  Cap 
tain  Richards,  Sergeant  Tilden  C.  Cruttenden,  Corporal  Ebenezer 
Peet  and  Privates  John  J.  Johnson,  Charles  H.  Rogers  and  Simon 
L.  Hakes  of  Company  G  were  captured.  Presumably  Cruttenden 
and  Peet  were  seriously  wounded  before  being  captured.  Both 
died  in  Petersburg  a  month  later.  As  a  partial  offset  to  this  loss, 
in  our  company  Corporal  David  E.  Bowen  during  the  mix-up  in 
the  Crater  captured  seven  Rebels  and  marched  them  through  a 
shower  of  bullets  and  grape  and  canister  into  our  lines.  "Dave" 
was  a  good  soldier  all  right,  but  it  looks  as  though  there  must  have 
been  "contributory  negligence"  on  the  part  of  the  Johnnies  or  he 
never  could  have  "surrounded"  seven  men  and  brought  them  in 
single  handed  as  he  did. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  many  of  the  Confederate  soldiers,  especially 
during  the  last  year  of  the  war,  were  only  waiting  for  a  pretext  or 
a  favorable  opportunity  to  come  into  our  lines ;  knowing  as  they 
did  that  they  would  fare  better  as  our  prisoners  than  with  their 
own  people.  Deserters  from  the  Rebel  army  frequently  came  into 
the  Union  lines  during  the  siege  of  Petersburg.  With  us  it  was 
different.  A  Union  soldier,  even  from  a  selfish  point  of  view,  if 
he  was  worth  his  salt,  would  take  desperate  chances  and  fight  to 
the  last  to  avoid  being  captured  and  sent  to  Confederate  prison 
pens  to  be  tortured  and  as  likely  as  not  starved  to  death. 

July  3ist,  the  day  after  the  battle  of  the  Crater,  a  flag  of  truce 
was  sent  into  the  Confederate  lines  asking  for  permission  to  bury 
our  dead  that  lay  promiscuously  where  they  fell  between  our  works 
and  the  demolished  fort.  It  was  so  late,  however,  before  the  requi 
site  formalities  were  over  that  the  truce  wras  postponed  until  next 
morning;  from  seven  o'clock  till  nine  being  the  time  specified. 
Promptly  at  the  appointed  hour  the  pickets  on  both  sides  stopped 
firing  and  details  with  stretchers,  picks  and  shovels  were  set  to 
work.  The  flag  of  truce  was  planted  half  way  between  the  lines, 
surrounded  by  a  group  of  officers  of  both  armies.  Officers  and 
men  who  were  there  as  spectators  had  to  keep  their  proper  distance 
from  the  Confederate  works.  The  details,  however,  under  Rebel 
guards,  were  allowed  to  gather  up  the  dead  wherever  found. 

The  ruins  of  the  fort  had  been  fixed  up  into  a  rifle  pit  and  was 
garrisoned  with  two  lines  of  battle.  Most  of  the  garrison  sat  on 


148     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

the  parapet  and  seemed  to  be  interested  spectators  of  what  our  fel 
lows  were  doing.  Rebel  officers  of  all  grades  from  lieutenant-gen 
eral  down  were  strutting  around  between  the  lines,  some  in  care 
less  undress,  but  most  of  them  in  full  regimentals.  An  officer  who 
seemed  to  be  "boss"  and  whom  I  took  to  be  General  Mahone,  was 
in  his  shirt  sleeves  but  had  on  high  top  boots  and  I  think  gauntlet 
gloves.  The  dead  as  they  lay  in  a  road,  between  the  lines  where 
a  shallow  trench  was  being  dug  for  their  reception,  presented  a 
ghastly,  sickening  spectacle.  After  lying  on  the  ground  nearly  48 
hours,  part  of  the  time  under  a  broiling  sun,  all  were  alike  swollen 
and  totally  disfigured.  It  took  more  than  a  casual  glance  to  distin 
guish  the  whites  from  the  blacks  as  they  lay  there  side  by  side 
ready  for  burial.  The  stench  was  horrid,  poisoning  the  air  for 
miles  around. 

At  nine  o'clock  the  gruesome  task  was  barely  finished;  but  the 
truce  had  expired  and  the  Blue  and  Gray  who  for  a  few  moments, 
under  the  white  flag,  had  been  friends,  were  mortal  enemies  again. 

Both  parties  promptly  retired  to  their  respective  lines  of  in- 
trenchment  and  pretty  soon  were  shooting  at  each  other  as  usual. 


Capt.  R.  G.  Richards 
Company  G 


In  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  149 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  FORTY-FIFTH  IN  THE  BATTLE  OF 
THE  CRATER 

N 

IT  WAS  ON  THE  30TH  OF  JULY,  1864 — THE  PLACE,  NEAR 
PETERSBURG,  VA. 

CAPTAIN  R.  G.  RICHARDS 

Ever  since  June  27th,  the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer 
Infantry,  composed  largely  of  coal  miners  from  Schuylkill  County 
under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Pleasants,  had  been  con 
tinuously  engaged  in  running  a  mine  under  the  enemy's  works,  the 
objective  point  being  a  fort  mounting  six  heavy  guns  and  gar 
risoned  by  about  300  men  which  formed  a  part  of  the  front  line 
of  the  enemy's  earthworks.  The  fort  was  not  more  than  140  yards 
distant  from  our  line  of  breastworks  at  that  point.  The  position 
of  the  Forty-fifth,  when  on  duty,  was  and  had  been  since  June  i8th, 
directly  in  front  of  the  fort.  By  reason  of  the  close  proximity  of 
the  hostile  lines  in  that  vicinity,  musketry  and  artillery  firing  were 
kept  up  each  day,  resulting  in  the  loss  on  the  average  in  the  Sec 
ond  Division  (Potter's),  of  14  or  15  men  and  officers  per  diem. 

On  July  26th  the  mine  was  charged  with  8,000  pounds  of  pow 
der,  and  on  the  2Qth  all  was  ready  for  the  explosion. 

In  the  meantime  General  Burnside  had  perfected  his  plan  of 
attack,  which  was,  briefly  stated,  to  form  two  columns,  and  to 
charge  with  them  through  the  breach  anticipated  by  the  explosion 
of  the  mine,  then  sweep  along  the  enemy's  line  right  and  left,  clear 
ing  away  the  artillery  and  infantry  by  attacking  in  the  flank  and 
rear ;  other  columns  at  once  to  make  for  the  crest  back  of  the  enemy's 
works  and  Cemetery  Hill. 

In  order  to  carry  out  this  plan  successfully,  a  division  of  colored 
troops  consisting  of  twTo  brigades  under  General  Ferrero,  was,  by 
order  of  Burnside,  for  almost  three  weeks  drilled  in  the  movements 
necessary  to  familiarize  them  with  the  work  to  be  done  in  leading 
the  charge.  It  was  a  well  known  fact  that  the  colored  soldiers  and 
their  white  officers  looked  forward  with  determination  and  enthu 
siasm  to  winning  a  signal  victory  and  to  prove  themselves  worthy 
of  the  honor  of  being  selected  to  lead  the  attack  against  the  enemy. 


150     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

On  July  26th,  General  Meade  ordered  Burnside  to  report  his 
plan  of  attack,  which  he  did. 

It  was  not  until  noon  of  the  2Qth  that  Burnside  was  informed 
that  his  plan  was  disapproved  and  that  the  colored  troops  should 
not  lead  the  attack,  although  Burnside  urged  upon  General  Meade 
that  the  white  troops,  owing  to  the  constant  and  severe  service  to 
which  they  have  been  exposed  for  40  days  previous,  were  not  in 
condition  to  make  such  a  clashing  charge  as  the  circumstances  would 
require,  while  the  colored  soldiers  were  fresh  and  vigorous. 

General  Grant  afterwards,  before  the  Congressional  Board  of 
Inquiry  concerning  the  mine  disaster,  said  that  he  believed  that 
the  charge  of  the  colored  troops  "would  have  been  a  success." 

I  only  mention  these  facts  in  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  gal 
lant  commander  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  whose  magnanimous  soul  had 
no  room  for  envy,  nor  ever  allowed  mere  prerogative  incident  to 
rank  or  position  to  cast  a  shadow  across  his  path  of  supreme  fidel 
ity  to  the  cause  of  his  country. 

General  Meade  from  that  time  took  command  of  the  enterprise 
and  directed  that  at  three  thirty  o'clock  on  the  following  morning, 
July  3Oth,  the  mine  should  be  exploded,  and  that  the  white  troops 
of  the  Ninth  Corps,  should  make  the  charge  and  gain  the  crest  in 
rear  of  the  enemy's  line  of  works. 

Nearly  the  entire  night  of  the  2Qth  was  taken  up  in  making  the 
necessary  changes  and  arranging  the  position  of  the  troops  ready 
for  the  deadly  work  on  the  morrow. 

Burnside  issued  his  battle  orders  to  carry  out  General  Meade's 
command.  It  fell  to  General  Ledlie,  commanding  the  First  Divi 
sion,  to  lead  the  attack  and  to  move  forward  at  once  to  crown  the 
crest  at  the  point  known  as  Cemetery  Hill. 

Then  General  Wilcox,  commanding  the  Third  Division,  was  to 
follow  as  soon  as  possible  after  Ledlie  had  passed  through  the  first 
line  of  the  enemy's  works,  bearing  off  to  the  left  flank  of  General 
Ledlie's  column  and  make  a  lodgment  to  the  left  of  General  Led- 
lie's  Division.  Then  General  Potter,  commanding  the  Second  Di 
vision,  was  to  move  to  the  right  of  Ledlie's  Division  as  soon  as  it 
was  apparent  that  he  would  not  interfere  with  the  movement  of 
General  Wilcox,  so  that  Potter  could  protect  the  left  flank  of  Led 
lie's  Division,  and  establish  a  line  to  run  from  Cemetery  Hill  nearly 
at  right  angles  with  the  enemy's  line. 


In  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  151 

The  order  to  General  Ferrero  was  to  move  his  division  immedi 
ately  after  Wilcox's  until  he  reached  our  advance  line,  when  it  was 
cleared  by  the  other  three  divisions;  then  move  forward  over  the 
same  ground  that  Ledlie  had  covered;  then  pass  through  our  line, 
and  if  possible,  move  down  and  occupy  the  village. 

There  were  other  dispositions  of  troops,  but  I  shall  not  take 
the  time,  or  the  space  to  mention  them  here. 

Such  then  was  the  plan  of  attack  in  so  far  as  the  Ninth  Corps 
was  concerned. 

I  shall  confine  the  rest  of  this  narrative  of  that  fateful  day 
mostly  to  the  part  taken  by  the  Forty-fifth. 

On  the  night  of  the  29th  our  regiment  occupied  its  usual  posi 
tion  directly  in  front  of  the  fated  fort.  All  night  long  we  watched 
with  the  utmost  vigilance  for  any  signs  of  movement  in  the  ene 
my's  lines,  and  we  were  ready  for  any  emergency. 

In  the  dim  light  we  could  discern  our  troops  moving  stealthily 
into  position  in  the  hollow  back  of  our  breastworks. 

All  was  silent  in  the  grim  and  doomed  fort  in  our  front;  its 
garrison  rested  in  fancied  security,  oblivious  of  the  mighty  and 
cruel  force  underneath,  which  waited  only  the  signal  of  a  spark  to 
leap  forth  with  volcanic  and  destructive  energy. 

About  three-thirty  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  3Oth,  while  it 
was.  yet  dark,  Captain  Gregg,  commanding  the  Forty-fifth,  was 
ordered  to  leave  a  strong  line  of  skirmishers  in  front  of  the  enemy's 
works,  and  to  march  the  rest  of  the  regiment  back  to  the  edge  of 
the  woods,  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant.  One  hundred  men 
under  command  of  Captain  Fessler  of  Company  K  were  left  as  the 
skirmish  line.  Only  no  men  and  u  officers  were  left  of  the  old 
Forty-fifth  that  morning  as  we  marched  back  to  the  edge  of  the 
woods  under  Captain  Gregg. 

The  time  for  the  explosion  expired;  -all  waited  and  watched; 
an  hour  passed ;  no  sound  from  the  front.  The  sky  was  reddening 
with  the  dawn;  all  eyes  were  turned  toward  the  front;  it  was  now 
four  thirty-five.  As  we  stood  in  almost  breathless  expectancy,  n. 
staff  officer  rode  near  us  from  the  front  going  toward  headquar 
ters.  He  stopped  an  instant  to  say  that  the  fuse  was  faulty,  and 
that  the  affair  was  a  failure,  but  as  the  last  word  fell  from  his  lips, 
suddenly  a  heavy  sound  like  muffled  thunder  was  heard ;  the  ground 
trembled,  and  high  in  the  air  rose  an  immense  column  of  earth 


152     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

mingled  with  cannon,  caissons,  camp  equipage  and  human  bodies; 
the  red  explosions  of  powder  glowing  in  the  horrid  mass ;  clouds  of 
dense  smoke  and  impenetrable  dust  rolled  from  the  summit,  then 
slowly  settled  as  if  to  veil  the  awful  ruin  from  our  view.  All  that 
was  left  of  the  six  gun  battery  with  its  garrison  of  300  men,  was  a 
crater  200  feet  long,  50  feet  wide  and  from  25  to  30  feet  deep, 
with  the  debris  of  the  material  of  what  was  a  formidable  earth 
work,  and  the  mangled  bodies  of  its  occupants. 

As  if  to  further  augment  and  intensify  the  awfulness  of  the 
scene,  about  150  pieces  of  artillery  along  our  line  simultaneously 
crashed  their  thunders  and  belched  forth  their  hissing  and  screech 
ing  missiles  until  it  seemed  as  if  the  vaulted  dome  above  us  was 
bursting  asunder. 

The  enemy,  astounded  and  frightened,  fled  in  consternation, 
evidently  expecting  a  like  fate  to  the  entire  front  line  of  breastwork 
to  the  right  and  left  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fort. 

Ledlie's  Division  now  advanced  passing  quickly  over  our  breast 
works,  and  charged  across  the  intervening  space  into  the  ruins  in 
the  enemy's  line. 

As  the  men  entered  the  still  smoking  chasm,  the  cries  of  the 
wounded  among  the  debris,  some  half  buried  struggling  to  free 
themselves,  the  broken  masses  of  earth  and  the  yielding  sand,  caused 
the  advancing  line  to  break;  the  men  halted,  some  to  extricate  the 
men  from  their  distressing  condition;  some  to  take  prisoners,  and 
others  to  dig  up  buried  guns  and  other  materials;  all  this  instead 
of  moving  on  past  the  crater  to  the  crest  beyond  as  ordered. 

In  justice  to  the  noble  regiments  comprising  the  several  brigades 
of  the  First  Division,  it  is  not  at  all  likely  they  knew  the  objective 
point  they  were  expected  to  make,  or  that  even  the  regimental 
commanders  were  so  informed.  General  Ledlie,  the  responsible 
head  of  the  division,  was  inexcusably  absent  behind  our  breast 
works;  all  was  confusion  in  the  fort. 

What  General  Burnside  feared  now  became  a  reality;  the  men 
began  to  intrench  themselves,  there  being  no  responsible  head  to 
lead  them  on.  This  condition  of  the  First  Division  materially  de 
layed  and  prevented  the  advance  of  Wilcox's  and  Potter's  Divisions 
to  carry  out  the  orders  of  the  corps  commander. 

Precious  time  was  passing;  20  minutes  were  gone;  ample  time 
in  which  Ledlie's  Division  should  have  cleared  the  enemy's  line  and 
made  for  and  reached  the  coveted  crest. 


In  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  153 

Those  20  minutes  were  lost !  irretrievably  lost. 

By  that  time  the  enemy  had  regained  self-possession.  Our  ar 
tillery  began  to  receive  sharp  and  spirited  response  from  the  enemy's 
batteries;  the  men  were  returning  to  their  guns  and  intrenchments 
and  forming  lines  to  resist  our  further  advance ;  their  rifle  pits  and 
batteries  were  so  arranged  as  to  make  our  position  in  and  about 
the  crater  not  long  tenable.  From  the  crest  and  from  beyond  the 
ravine  to  the  right  a  terrific  and  destructive  fire  swept  the  ground 
between  the  ruined  fort  and  our  lines,  as  well  as  over  the  ruins  and 
in  rear  of  them.  In  addition  was  the  musketry  to  the  right  and 
left  from  the  breastworks. 

It  was  under  the  conditions  just  described  that  General  Pot 
ter's  Division,  of  which  the  Forty-fifth  formed  a  part,  became  di 
rectly  involved  in  the  battle.  My  purpose  is  to  confine  myself 
chiefly  to  that  which  relates  to  the  Forty-fifth,  and  in  doing  so  shall 
freely  quote  from  Captain  Gregg's  report  of  the  battle,  dated 
August  Qth,  1864:  Ed.  40,  Series  i,  p.  553  War  of  the  Rebellion. 

"We  marched  by  the  left  flank  through  the  covered  way  to  our 
old  position  in  our  breastworks.  On  arriving  there  I  gave  the 
command  to  march  double  quick  across  the  field  to  the  Rebel  fort. 
In  crossing  the  field  we  were  exposed  to  a  severe  fire  from  the 
enemy's  works  on  the  right  and  left.  The  whole  space  was  swept 
with  canister,  grape  and  musketry." 

The  ground  was  already  thickly  strewn  with  dead  and  wounded. 
Gregg  further  says: 

"On  arriving  at  the  ruins  of  the  fort,  I  attempted  to  march  the 
regiment  by  the  right  flank  across  them  in  order  to  charge  a  Rebel 
battery  stationed  at  some  buildings  in  the  rear  of  the  Rebel  works, 
but  found  it  impossible  to  do  so,  as  the  crater  formed  by  the  ex 
plosion  was  some  200  feet  in  length,  50  feet  in  breadth,  and  from 
30  to  35  feet  in  depth.  The  crest  of  the  crater,  ruined  slopes  and 
parapets  were  covered  with  dead,  dying  and  wounded  of  the  First 
and  Second  Divisions  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps." 

As  we  passed  out  of  the  crater  a  fragment  of  a  shell  tore  away 
one  side  of  Theodore  Eyde's  face;  also  his  eye.  I  immediately 
wrapped  his  face  with  my  handkerchief,  while  the  wounded  part 
was  yet  clean  and  bloodless.  Eyde  passed  to  the  rear  in  safety. 
On  my  return  to  the  regiment  some  months  after,  I  learned  to  my 
astonishment,  that  he  had  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  ghastly 
wound.  The  report  of  Captain  Gregg  continues : 


154     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

"I  then  received  orders  from  Captain  Peckham  to  march  by 
the  left  flank  and  form  a  line  of  battle,  under  cover  of  the  parapet 
in  rear  of  the  fort,  in  order  to  charge  in  rear  of  the  line  of  their 
works  so  as  to  make  a  diversion  in  favor  of  our  brigade,  which  was 
to  charge  forward  at  the  moment  they  saw  the  colors  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteers.  At  the  same  time  I  re 
ceived  orders  from  General  Bartlett  who  had  command  in  the  ruins 
of  the  fort,  to  charge  a  battery  in  our  immediate  front.  I  attempted 
to  do  so  with  my  small  command,  composed  of  about  8b  or  90  men 
and  seven  officers.  As  we  advanced,  the  enemy  opened  with  bat 
teries  stationed  at  several  different  points  on  the  right  and  left 
flanks  and  in  front,  accompanied  by  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry  from 
the  rifle  pits,  and  as  the  other  troops  in  the  front  did  not  advance 
to  our  support,  we  were  compelled  to  fall  back  into  the  intrench- 
ments." 

In  rear  of  the  fort  the  enemy  had  excavated  a  labyrinth  of 
traverses  and  rifle  pits,  evidently  for  their  protection  from  our 
guns,  in  passing  into  and  out  of  the  fort.  One  of  these  traverses 
was  about  four  feet  wide  and  three  feet  deep,  the  excavated  ma 
terial  piled  up  on  the  sides,  it  extended  about  100  feet  to  the  rear. 
From  this  traverse  branched  two  other  traverses,  one  to  the  right 
about  40  feet  from  the  outer  end,  and  the  other  about  20  feet  from 
the  outer  end  toward  the  left. 

Into  this  traverse  we  retreated  after  our  charge  already  men 
tioned.  Here  we  were  mixed  up  with  parts  of  other  regiments, 
especially  with  the  Fifty-eighth  Massachusetts. 

Shortly  thereafter  the  Rebels  made  a  charge  against  the  fort, 
but  were  repulsed  by  the  force  on  the  right  of  our  position  and  with 
considerable  loss,  but  as  we  were  in  this  traverse  by  the  flank,  by 
the  impact  of  the  charge  we  were  forced  back  as  far  as  the  junction 
of  the  main  traverse  with  the  branch  leading  to  the  right  already 
mentioned. 

In  attempting  to  rally  the  men  at  this  point  affording  a  wider 
front,  I  was  borne  to  the  ground.  As  I  sprung  to  my  feet  as  quick 
ly  as  possible,  I  was  confronted  by  a  large  Rebel  officer,  a  major 
in  rank,  who  placed  his  revolver  close  to  my  breast  and  demanded 
my  surrender;  with  my  sword  in  hand,  we  looked  each  other  in 
the  face  for  several  seconds,  when  Captain  Gregg  rushed  in  and 
grabbed  the  Rebel's  revolver.  We  took  him  and  two  men  who 
stood  at  his  back,  prisoners.  Why  he  did  not  fire  I  never  knew. 


In  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  155 

Captain  Gregg  took  charge  of  the  prisoners  then  taken  and  or 
dered  me  to  remain  in  command  at  that  point. 

At  this  time  a  number  of  the  men  of  the  regiment  engaged, 
passed  back  to  the  crater  leaving  only  a  few  of  the  men  with  Lieu 
tenant  Catlin  of  Company  I  remaining  with  me  at  the  point  al 
ready  described.  It  soon  became  evident  to  us  that  in  the  branch 
traverse  to  our  left,  the  junction  of  which  with  the  main  traverse 
was  only  a  few  feet  off,  were  a  number  of  the  enemy  and  also  in 
a  rifle  pit  running  almost  at  right  angles  with  the  main  traverse 
which  we  occupied,  not  more  than  50  feet  away.  It  was  from  that 
rifle  pit  as  reported  by  Captain  Gregg  that  a  Rebel  fired  at  me, 
and  as  I  immediately  fell  to  the  ground  to  avoid  a  second  attempt, 
it  gave  rise  to  the  report  that  I  was  killed. 

In  order  to  procure  means  to  protect  ourselves,  I  wrote  on  a 
piece  of  paper  a  request  for  picks  and  shovels,  wrapped  it  about  a 
stone  and  threw  it  in  the  direction  of  the  fort,  hoping  that  some 
one  would  get  it  and  comply  with  my  request,  knowing  that  it  was 
impossible  for  any  of  us  to  reach  the  fort  from  our  position.  Re 
ceiving  no  response,  we  set  at  work  with  bayonets  for  picks  and 
tin  cups  for  shovels,  to  construct  an  earthen  barricade  across  the 
traverse  so  that  we  could  drive  the  Rebels  out  of  the  branch  traverse 
and  protect  ourselves  in  the  event  of  another  charge.  The  only 
material  that  we  could  procure  had  to  be  dug  out  of  the  side  of  the 
traverse  \vhich  was  of  a  clayish  substance  and  very  hard. 

The  men  worked  with  all  their  might,  and  they  were  well  nigh 
exhausted  by  the  long  continued  exertions  under  the  heat  of  the 
burning  sun,  and  almost  famished  from  thirst.  Strong  men  wept, 
yet  stood  determined,  Spartan-like,  at  the  post  of  duty. 

All  this  time  the  bursting  shells  crashed  above  our  heads  and 
the  air  was  freighted  with  grape  and  canister;  and  bullets  buzzed 
like  bees. 

Across  the  traverse  from  our  position  at  the  junction  of  the 
branch  to  the  right,  bodies  to  the  number  of  15  to  20  were  literally 
piled  up  in  a  heap,  directly  in  line  with  the  branch  traverse  to  our 
left  which  was  filled  with  the  enemy.  Here  it  was  men  fell  as  they 
attempted  to  advance  over  the  parapet  of  the  demolished  fort.  I 
saw  a  colored  soldier  stand  on  that  human  pile  of  dead  and  wounded, 
fire  his  musket  and  while  hurriedly  reloading,  was  shot  in  the  face ; 
still  loading  he  was  again  shot  in  the  back  of  the  head;  yet  load- 


156     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

ing,  when  the  third  shot  laid  him  prostrate  like  those  beneath  him; 
all  done  within  the  space  of  a  few  seconds. 

It  was  now  past  two  o'clock ;  we  still  worked  with  bayonets  and 
tin  cups  to  construct  our  barricade;  it  was  desperate  work.  In  en 
deavoring  to  level  the  top  with  a  rifle,  it  was  shattered  with  bullets 
the  instant  it  touched  the  earth. 

Yet  determined,  we  hoped  reinforcements  would  come  to  our 
relief,  but  before  our  barricade  was  high  enough  to  afford  us  any 
protection  there  arose  from  behind  the  rifle  pits  in  our  immediate 
front  a  gray  line  of  battle,  about  50  feet  distant,  advancing  upon 
us.  Our  position  was  in  the  extreme  front  of  our  forces.  Further 
resistance  was  impossible  and  could  only  result  in  the  useless  sacri 
fice  of  the  lives  of  the  few  men  under  my  command.  I  sprang  to 
my  feet  and  was  again  confronted  by  a  Rebel  officer  with  a  re 
volver  at  my  breast  and  ordered  to  surrender,  which  I  did  with 
the  others. 

At  the  time  Captain  Gregg  took  charge  of  the  Rebel  prisoners 
already  mentioned,  he  with  a  number  of  our  men  and  officers  took 
their  position  near  the  crater  slope  where  they  became  engaged  in 
a  hand-to-hand  conflict  with  the  enemy.  I  quote  again  from  Cap 
tain  Gregg's  official  report  already  mentioned: 

"I  then  received  orders  from  Captain  Peckham  to  form  my 
regiment  and  await  further  orders,  as  the  negro  troops  were  to 
charge  the  works  on  our  right.  We  heard  the  cheering  of  the  men 
as  they  dashed  forward;  in  a  few  minutes  the  works  were  filled 
with  negroes.  A  Major  of  one  of  the  negro  regiments  placed  his 
colors  on  the  crest  of  the  crater  and  the  negro  troops  opened  a 
heavy  fire  on  the  Rebels  who  were  at  that  time  charging  the  fort. 
In  a  few  moments  the  Rebel  force,  headed  by  several  desperate 
officers,  dashed  into  the  pits  among  us,  when  a  desperate  hand-to- 
hand  conflict  ensued,  both  parties  using  their  bayonets  and  club 
bing  their  muskets.  A  large  Rebel  officer,  who  appeared  to  be  in 
command  of  the  force,  rushed  upon  me,  and  catching  me  by  the 
throat,  ordered  me  to  surrender,  at  the  same  time  bringing  his  re 
volver  to  my  head.  I  succeeded  in  taking  his  revolver  from  him, 
and  after  a  sharp  struggle  left  him  dead  on  the  spot.  A  Rebel 
soldier  who  had  come  to  the  rescue  of  his  officer,  attempted  to  run 
me  through  with  his  bayonet,  but  was  killed  by  Sergeant  Bacon  of 
Company  G. 


In  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  157 

''Captain  Dibeler  of  Company  B  was  attacked  by  two  Rebel  offi 
cers,  his  sword  taken  from  him,  but  after  a  sharp  contest  he  suc 
ceeded  in  recovering  it  and  killing  his  antagonists." 

The  report  continues : 

"Captain  Richards  of  Company  G,  while  gallantly  rallying  his 
men,  was  fired  at  by  a  Rebel  and  was  seen  to  fall.  He  was  a  noble 
officer,  and  will  long  be  remembered  by  all  who  knew  him." 

I  may  be  pardoned  for  quoting  this  concerning  myself;  it  is 
not  often  given  to  men  to  read  their  own  obituaries.  I  prize  the 
good  opinion  of  my  gallant  fellow  officer  and  friend,  Captain 
Gregg,  more  than  I  can  express.  Further,  from  the  report : 

"Lieutenants  Van  Valin,  Gelbaugh,  Seely,  Campbell,  Catlin  and 
Eyde  behaved  nobly  during  the  contest. 

"In  rear  of  the  fort,  Lieutenants  Campbell  and  Eyde  were  se 
verely  wounded. 

"During  this  brief  contest  the  negroes  in  the  crater  kept  up  a 
heavy  fire  of  musketry  on  the  advancing  enemy,  compelling  them 
to  take  shelter.  Many  of  our  men  being  killed  and  wounded,  and 
the  enemy  pressing  us  hard,  we  were  compelled  to  fall  back  into 
the  crater  in  order  to  save  our  little  band,  while  the  negroes  kept 
up  a  heavy  fire  on  the  Rebels  outside  the  fort." 

About  this  time  Brigadier-General  Bartlett,  a  noble  officer  com 
manding  the  forces  in  the  crater,  but  then  unable  to  move  about  by 
reason  of  having  broken  his  artificial  leg,  ordered  Captain  Gregg 
to  act  as  field  officer  of  the  day  with  orders  to  rally  every  man  to 
the  defense  of  the  crater. 

General  Bartlett  having  witnessed  the  struggle  between  Captain 
Gregg  and  his  Rebel  antagonist  presented  to  Captain  Gregg  his 
sword,  saying  to  him:  "Captain  Gregg,  you  know  how  to  use  it." 
Captain  Gregg  subsequently  returned  the  sword  to  the  general,  it 
having  been  presented  to  him  by  his  old  regiment,  the  Fifty-seventh 
Massachusetts.  Quoting  further: 

"We  felt  confident  that  another  charge  would  be  made  by  our 
troops  upon  the  enemy  on  our  right,  and  our  hopes  were  to  hold 
the  fort  until  the  charge  was  made." 

Prior  to  this  time  General  Burnside  had  been  ordered  per 
emptorily  to  withdraw  all  the  troops  back  to  our  line  of  breast 
works;  of  this,  however,  the  troops  in  the  crater  were  not  yet  in 
formed.  Continuing  from  the  report: 


158     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

"The  crest  of  the  fort  was  swept  with  canister  and  grapeshot 
from  the  batteries  of  the  enemy.  In  the  meantime  the  enemy 
opened  a  heavy  bombardment  with  their  mortar  batteries.  They 
had  perfect  range  of  the  crater;  therefore  almost  every  shell  ex 
ploded  in  the  midst  of  the  dense  mass  of  men,  killing  and  wounding 
many  of  our  brave  soldiers  at  every  explosion. 

"It  appeared  in  a  short  time  impossible  to  hold  the  fort,  as  our 
men  were  overcome  with  the  excessive  heat,  and  the  negroes  al 
most  destitute  of  ammunition.  We  succeeded  in  getting  several 
hundred  rounds  from  the  dead  and  wrounded  in  the  fort. 

"The  traverses  around  the  fort  were  filled  with  the  enemy,  who 
attempted  to  charge  into  the  crater,  but  were  driven  off  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  *  *  *  * 

"At  the  hour  of  one  o'clock,  the  bottom,  sides  and  nearly  all 
parts  of  the  crater  were  strew7n  with  dead,  dying  and  wounded 
soldiers,  causing  pools  of  blood  to  be  formed  at  the  bottom  of 
the  crater.  *  *  *  * 

"About  two  o'clock  the  loss  of  life  was  terrible.  *  *  *  *  It 
seemed  impossible  to  maintain  life  from  the  intense  heat  of  the 
sun.  *  *  *  *  General  Bartlett  received  a  note  from  General  Grif 
fin  to  the  effect  that  the  crater  and  other  Rebel  works  in  jour  pos 
session  were  to  be  abandoned,  and  that  he  had  better  get  out  of  the 
crater  and  save  himself. 

"The  color  bearer  of  the  Forty-fifth  with  the  color  guard  with 
the  exception  of  Corporal  Haynes,  who  was  killed,  succeeded  in 
gaining  our  former  position  and  joined  the  command  of  Captain 
Fessler." 

Our  color  bearer  made  a  gallant  fight  hand-to-hand  against 
Rebel  soldiers  who  attempted  to  capture  our  flag  and  succeeded  in 
defending  it  against  all  comers. 

One  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Forty-fifth  captured  the  flag  of  a 
Rebel  regiment  and  bore  it  in  triumph  as  a  trophy  of  one  of  the 
bloodiest  conflicts  of  the  war. 

Captain  Gregg  in  the  closing  paragraph  of  his  report  says : 

"I  charged  the  enemy's  works  with  no  men.  Of  that  num 
ber  six  were  killed,  22  wounded  and  39  missing.  Among  the  miss 
ing  are  Captains  Dibeler  and  Richards,  and  Lieutenants  Van  Valin, 
Catlin  and  Seely.  I  am  pleased  to  say  that  all  the  officers  and  men 
that  were  with  me  in  the  engagement  are  deserving  great  praise 


In  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  159 

for  their  noble  conduct  and  bearing.  Much  praise  is  also  due  to 
Captain  Fessler  and  Lieutenant  Cheeseman  for  their  efforts  in  en 
deavoring  to  rally  the  negroes  and  other  troops  while  they  were 
retreating  back  across  the  front  line  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteers." 

It  will  be  seen  that  out  of  no  men,  67  were  lost;  I  am  satisfied 
that  of  the  39  reported  as  missing  many  of  them  were  either  killed 
or  wounded. 

The  Battle  of  the  Crater  ended  in  terrible  disaster  and  defeat; 
our  loss  was  more  than  2,000  killed  and  wounded,  besides  1,652 
missing.  The  enemy's  loss  must  have  been  very  heavy. 

Never  did  men  fight  with  more  courage  and  desperation,  but 
somewhere,  not  with  the  rank  and  file,  nor  with  regimental  officers 
on  our  side,  lay  the  responsibility  for  the  disaster.  It  was  then, 
as  it  is  now  when  we  can  calmly  consider  the  situation,  evident 
that  a  splendid  victory  was  within  our  grasp,  but  lost  because  of 
mismanagement  and  for  want  of  competent  leadership.  Are  we 
not  justified  in  believing  that  had  General  Burnside's  plan  of  battle 
been  approved,  the  result  would  have  been  different? 

Even  as  we  relate  in  sorrow  the  story  of  the  battle,  we  are 
proud  of  the  part  taken  by  our  gallant  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Vet 
eran  Volunteers,  which  is  in  keeping  with  its  noble  record  through 
out  its  whole  history  from  first  to  last. 


160     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  WELDON  RAILROAD  AND  PEGRAM'S  FARM 

AFTER  "THE  CRATER/'  BY  BEAUGE. 

The  Forty-fifth  came  out  of  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  badly  crip 
pled  but  with  untarnished  honor.  One-third  of  its  members  had 
been  put  out  of  business  or  hors  de  combat,  as  the  French  say.  Of 
those  taken  prisoners  many  perished  in  captivity.  Very  few  of 
the  survivors  were  released  in  time  to  participate  in  other  cam 
paigns  of  the  regiment.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hills  being  unable  to 
command  the  regiment  on  account  of  ill  health  and  the  office  of 
major  being  vacant,  Captain  Gregg  of  Company  F,  as  the  rank 
ing  captain  in  the  regiment,  remained  in  command  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  after  the  mine  explosion  as  he  had  been  for  some  time  previous 
for  the  same  reason. 

With  Captain  Richards  a  prisoner,  First  Lieutenant  Haynes 
acting  regimental  quartermaster,  and  Second  Lieutenant  Jeffers  ab 
sent,  wounded,  Company  G  was  without  a  commissioned  officer 
present  for  duty  from  the  last  of  July  until  the  middle  of  Decem 
ber,  as  will  appear  farther  on.  Sergeant  David  L.  Bacon  com 
manded  Company  G  during  the  months  of  August  and  September, 
the  same  Sergeant  Bacon,  who,  according  to  Captain  Gregg's  own 
story,  saved  his  (Gregg's)  life  during  the  mix-up  at  the  crater, 
yet  owing  to  Bacon's  modesty  or  some  other  reason  he  never  to 
my  recollection  mentioned  the  incident  in  my  hearing.  Bacon  and 
I  had  been  boys  together  in  Tioga  County  and  were  quite  chummy 
in  the  army,  especially  after  so  many  of  the  original  members  of 
the  company  were  gone.  We  tented  together  when  he  commanded 
the  company.  "Dave"  jocularly  styled  himself  "Commander-in- 
chief  of  Company  G,"  and  dubbed  me  his  "Adjutant  General,"  be 
cause  in  my  capacity  as  company  clerk  I  made  out  all  his  reports 
and  other  official  papers. 

The  Forty-fifth,  or  what  was  left  of  it,  continued  on  duty  as 
usual  in  the  trenches  opposite  the  demolished  fort  after  the  explo 
sion. 

Sunday,  August  I4th,  we  drew  rations  and  next  day  left  camp 
about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning;  marched  through  a  night  "as 


The  Weld  on  Railroad  and  Pe gram's  Farm  161 

dark  as  a  stack  of  black  cats"  until  about  6  A.  M.,  when  we  re 
lieved  a  portion  of  the  Fifth  Corps. 

August  1 7th.  Heavy  firing  on  the  right.  Rebels  shelled  us 
during  the  night.  One  man  killed  with  solid  shot,  says  my  diary. 

August  1 8th.  Repaired  our  pits.  Rebs  gave  us  another  shell 
ing  last  night. 

August  1 9th.  Got  marching  orders  and  packed  up.  Left  camp 
about  noon,  marched  five  miles  and  deployed  as  skirmishers  on  right 
of  Fifth  Corps.  Heavy  fighting  during  the  evening.  We  arrived 
in  the  nick  of  time.  The  Fifth  Corps  was  being  roughly  handled, 
having  lost  heavily  in  killed  and  wounded,  besides  more  than  2,000 
captured,  and  the  Rebels  were  in  a  fair  way  to  drive  our  forces  off 
the  Weldon  Railroad  when  our  division  and  the  First  of  the  Ninth 
Corps  put  in  an  appearance.  John  L.  Wilson,  special  correspond 
ent  of  the  New  York  Herald,  in  his  "Story  of  the  War,"  says  in 
this  connection:  "Very  opportunely,  just  at  the  time  when  the 
right  center  (of  the  Fifth  Corps)  had  become  broken  and  was 
giving  away,  the  First  and  Second  Divisions  of  the  Ninth  Corps, 
under  Potter  and  White,  came  up.  Although  they  had  made  a  long 
and  toilsome  forced  march  over  roads  now  reduced  to  mud  by  the 
late  heavy  rains,  they  were  immediately  formed  and  sent  in  on  the 
charge;  and  the  enemy  was  overlapped  and  turned.  The  result 
was  that  the  contest  was  decided  against  the  Confederates  and  the 
disordered  lines  of  the  Federals  were  soon  rallied." 

Next  day  we  advanced  our  skirmish  line  and  threw  up  rifle  pits 
but  there  was  no  fighting  to  amount  to  anything. 

On  the  2  ist  the  Rebels  made  another  desperate  attempt  to  drive 
us  off  the  Weldon  Railroad,  but  were  repulsed.  The  brunt  of  the 
attack  was  on  the  Fifth  Corps,  although  our  skirmishers  were  driven 
in  and  we  were  ready  to  give  the  Johnnies  a  warm  reception  behind 
our  temporary  breastworks. 

The  Weldon  Railroad  was  a  much  coveted  bone  of  contention 
between  the  two  armies  and  cost  both  sides  many  lives  during  the 
summer  and  fall  of  1864.  Thursday  afternoon,  August  25th,  the 
sound  of  artillery  and  musketry  was  plainly  heard  in  our  camp 
from  the  direction  of  Reams  Station,  where  the  Second  Corps 
was  engaged  and  lost  more  men  that  day  than  the  Fifth  Corps  lost 
on  the  iQth.  But  our  fellows  kept  the  railroad — or  enough  of  it 
so  that  the  road  from  that  time  on  to  the  close  of  the  War  was  no 
good  to  the  enemy.  There  was  no  fighting  to  amount  to  anything 


162     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

in  our  front  for  some  time — a  month  or  more — after  August  25th, 
and  it  seemed  mighty  good  to  enjoy  a  season  of  comparative  rest 
after  what  \ve  had  gone  through  since  crossing  the  Rapiclan  in 
April. 

Our  camp  in  a  pine  grove  was,  I  think,  as  pleasant  a  location 
as  we  ever  struck.  Of  course,  the  usual  round  of  camp  duties  had 
to  be  attended  to,  such  as  drills,  parades,  policing,  picket  duty,  etc., 
and  the  boys  put  in  a  good  many  days  building  breastworks  until 
we  had  a  fine  line  of  fortifications ;  and  almost  wished  the  Johnnies 
would  come  out  and  give  us  a  chance  to  try  them.  But  they  didn't. 
Our  fighting  was  all  done  in  the  open.  Anyway  I  can't  think  of  a 
place  during  our  entire  service  where  the  enemy  attacked  us  behind 
our  breastworks. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  August  General  Curtin,  having  re 
covered  from  the  effects  of  his  wound  received  on  June  i8th,  came 
to  us  and  resumed  command  of  our  brigade.  About  the  same 
time  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hills  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health. 
We  were  sorry  to  lose  Colonel  Hills.  He  had  seen  service  in  the 
Mexican  War  and  was  a  good  soldier.  Joining  the  regiment  in 
1 86 1  as  captain  of  Company  I  he  was  promoted  to  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  in  March,  1863,  and  commanded  the  regiment  through 
most  of  the  East  Tennessee  campaign  and  during  the  Wilderness 
campaign  and  after  that  until  his  health  failed  him  and  he  was  ob 
liged  to  quit.  Word  came  to  us  while  in  this  camp  that  Lieutenant 
Jeffers  of  Company  G  had  been  mustered  out  from  the  hospital  on 
account  of  wounds  received  in  the  trenches  opposite  the  crater. 
Jeffers  had  been  with  us  from  the  start  and  served  with  signal 
'bravery  and  distinction  all  the  time.  During  his  service  as  a  com 
missioned  officer  he  frequently  carried  a  rifle  and  used  it,  pre 
sumably  with  telling  effect,  he  being  an  exceptionally  good  shot. 

About  40  recruits,  most  of  them  foreigners,  the  German  ele 
ment  predominating,  were  assigned  to  the  regiment  while  in  this 
camp.  None  of  these  was  assigned  to  Company  G. 

Our  camp  was  located  about  a  mile  from  and  to  the  rear  of 
the  Yellow  House  on  the  Weldon  Railroad.  And  that  reminds  me 
of  the  Davis  House  about  half  way  between  the  lines.  It  was 
the  scene  of  several  sharp  encounters  between  the  rival  pickets. 
One  day  a  cloud  0f  dense  smoke  from  that  direction  told  the  story. 
The  Davis  House,  like  thousands  of  others,  had  fallen  a  victim  to 
the  necessities  of  war. 


The  Wcldon  Railroad  and  Pcgnnris  Farm 


The  record  shows  that  September  23d,  Captain  Theodore  Gregg 
of  Company  F,  was  promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regiment. 
Why  Gregg  jumped  the  intermediate  grade  of  major  when  that 
place  was  vacant  and  had  been  since  the  death  of  Major  Kelsey, 
June  24th,  is  a  mystery  which  only  those  higher  up  can  explain. 
It  is  true  that  we  used  to  refer  to  Gregg  as  major  for  some  time 
before  he  \vas  promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel,  but  if  he  was  pro 
moted  to  major  at  all  and  no  record  made  of  it,  it  must  have  been 
done  in  September,  because  the  retained  muster  roll  of  Company 
G  for  two  months  ending  August  3ist,  which  is  here  before  me, 
was  signed  by  Theodore  Gregg,  Captain,  Company  F,  Command 
ing  the  Regiment.  If  our  records  are  right  the  Forty-fifth  was 
without  a  major  from  June  24th,  1864,  to  March  3ist,  1865,  when 
Captain  John  F.  Trout  of  Company  C,  was  promoted  to  that  office., 

September  24th,  my  diary  says,  there  were  cheers  all  along  the 
line  and  a  general  jubilee  over  Sheridan's  victory  in  the  Shenan- 
doah  Valley. 

Sunday,  September  25th.  Received  marching  orders  and 
packed  up.  Left  camp  at  5  P.  M.  Marched  until  about  eight  o'clock 
and  camped  near  Norfolk  Railroad.  Next  morning  we  moved  a 
short  distance  and  pitched  tents. 

September  27th.  Policed  our  quarters  and  fixed  up  to  stay.  At 
daybreak  next  morning  got  marching  orders.  Left  camp  at  six 
o'clock  and  pursuant  to  orders,  marched  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Gur- 
ley  House.  Next  day  the  regiment  was  "packed  up"  and  under 
marching  orders  from  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  but  did  not 
leave  camp.  Soldiers  seldom  know  one  day  what  they  will  do  the 
next.  Our  business  was  to  obey  orders  and  ask  no  questions. 

We  now  come  to  Friday,  September  3Oth,  1864  —  a  day  that 
many  of  the  boys  are  not  likely  to  forget. 

Turning  to  my  diary  I  find  that  we  left  camp  about  eleven 
o'clock  and  marching  a  short  distance  to  the  left  we  took  the  Pop 
lar  Spring  Church  road  through  the  woods  and  after  going  about  a 
mile  our  division  formed  line  of  battle,  supporting  a  division  of  the 
Fifth  Corps  while  they  charged  and  captured  a  redoubt  and  some 
rifle  pits  on  the  Peebles  Farm,  near  what  is  called  the  Squirrel 
Level  road.  This  was  about  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The 
Rebels  retreated  to  their  second  and  main  line  of  intrenchments 
and  the  Second  and  Third  Division  of  our  corps  moved  forward 


164     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

in  pursuit,  passing  the  troops  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  who  were  rest 
ing  and  taking  it  easy  behind  the  works  they  had  captured. 

My  duty  was  not  on  the  firing  line  that  day.  Other  members 
of  the  regiment,  in  their  personal  sketches,  will  give  the  details  of 
\vhat  followed. 

It  was  an  unlucky  Friday  for  us.  Three  regiments  of  our  bri 
gade  :  the  Fifty-first  New  York,  Fifty-eighth  Massachusetts  and 
the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania,  who  were  on  the  front  line  and  com 
posed  the  extreme  left  of  the  Union  forces,  were  captured  almost 
entirely.  Attacked  by  superior  numbers  in  front,  flank  and  rear 
and  practically  surrounded,  seven-eighths  of  what  was  left  of  the 
Forty-fifth  were  obliged  to  surrender  or  be  shot  down. 

This  engagement,  called  the  Battle  of  Pegram's  Farm,  was  the 
result  of  an  attempt  to  extend  our  line  to  the  left  and  get  a  firmer 
grip  on  the  Weldon  Railroad. 

General  R.  B.  Potter,  our  division  commander,  in  a  communi 
cation  to  corps  headquarters  under  date  of  November  ist,  1864, 
relative  to  this  engagement,  known  also  as  the  Battle  of  Poplar 
Spring  Church,  after  referring  to  the  circumstance  that  the  Fifty- 
first  New  York  had  destroyed  their  flag  before  surrendering,  goes 
on  to  say:  "The  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteers  lost 
eight  officers  and  170  enlisted  men  out  of  about  200.  The  colors 
of  this  regiment  were  also  torn  from  the  staff  and  destroyed. 
These  two  veteran  regiments,  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Veter 
an  Volunteers  and  the  Fifty-first  New  York  Veteran  Volunteers, 
as  you  are  well  aware,  sustained  as  high  a  reputation  as  any  organi 
zation  in  this  corps  for  uniform  valor  and  good  conduct." 

After  paying  a  glowing  tribute  to  the  Fifty-eighth  Massachu 
setts,  which  was  also  captured  almost  entirely  and  lost  its  flag, 
General  Potter  adds:  "These  regiments  were  lost  by  holding  on 
too  long  to  their  positions ;  the  order  for  their  withdrawal  could 
not  be  got  to  them  in  season." 

This  would  be  a  good  place  to  stop,  but  according  to  Sergeant 
J.  D.  Strait  of  Company  I,  who  was  with  the  colors  and  ought  to 
know,  General  Potter  was  evidently  misinformed  about  the  colors 
of  the  Forty-fifth  being  destroyed.  Sergeant  Strait  says  in  sub 
stance  that  after  our  line  of  battle  had  been  attacked  in  flank  and 
rear  and  thrown  into  confusion  and  he,  as  one  of  the  color-guard, 
and  Sergeant  Joe  Reigle,  the  color  bearer,  who  although  partially 
disabled  by  a  flesh  wound  was  still  carrying  the  flag,  became  sepa- 


The  Weldon  Railroad  and  Pe gram's  Farm  165 

rated  from  their  comrades  and  were  making  their  way  through 
the  brush  and  timber,  as  they  supposed,  into  our  own  lines,  they 
were  suddenly  confronted  at  close  quarters  by  a  line  of  dismounted 
Rebel  cavalry.  There  was  no  time  or  opportunity  to  destroy  the 
flag  or  do  anything  else  but  surrender  when  summoned  to  do  so 
or  be  shot  down,  and  that,  under  the  circumstances,  would  have 
been  a  useless  sacrifice.  The  boys  evidently  did  everything  within 
reason  to  save  the  flag.  Of  course,  they  might  have  ripped  the 
colors  up  into  ribbons  .when  they  found  that  the  battle  was  going 
against  us,  but  they  hadn't  given  up  the  idea  of  saving  the  flag  and 
were  doing  their  best  to  do  so  when  they  ran  up  against  a  Con 
federate  line  of  battle  lying  in  wait  in  the  brush  purposely  to  inter 
cept  our  men  who  were  willing  to  take  desperate  chances  to  avoid 
being  captured. 

In  this  connection  Sergeant  Strait  says  further  that  the  flag 
captured  that  day  was  the  colors  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania 
Veteran  Volunteers,  the  one  we  received  after  our  reenlistment  and 
which  Sergeant  Reigle  carried  from  the  time  we  left  Annapolis  in 
April,  1864,  until  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor  where  Reigle  \vas 
wounded  and  Strait  himself  took  the  flag  and  carried  it  until 
Reigle,  having  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his  wound,  resumed 
his  duties  as  color  bearer  on  the  I9th  of  June ;  Reigle  carrying  the 
flag  from  that  time  on  until  it  was  captured. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Sergeant  Reigle,  who  was  a  strapping  six- 
footer  and  a  good  soldier,  put  in  most  of  his  time  as  regimental 
color  bearer.  Before  carrying  the  new  flag  in  the  Virginia  cam 
paign  in  1864,  he  had  carried  the  colors  we  got  at  Harrisburg  in 
1 86 1  all  through  our  first  enlistment.  After  that,  according  to 
Comrade  Strait,  who  was  with  the  colors  and  ought  to  be  good 
authority,  Corporal  Thomas  Evers  of  Company  D,  carried  the  old 
flag  through  the  Virginia  campaign  up  to  September  3Oth,  1864; 
except  during  the  four  or  five  weeks  when  Corporal  C.  T.  Kelley 
of  Company  G,  served  as  color  bearer  after  June  iSth,  as  referred 
to  in  another  place. 

So  much  for  the  flags.     Now  to  resume  our  narrative. 

Colonel  Curtin,  who  commanded  the  brigade,  but  as  usual  was 
in  close  touch  with  the  Forty-fifth,  did  everything  possible,  ex 
posing  himself  recklessly,  to  rally  the  men  and  reestablish  his  line, 
but  finding  the  condition  hopeless,  three  regiments  of  his  brigade 
being  practically  surrounded,  to  avoid  being  captured  he  put  spurs 


1 66     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

to  his  horse  and  made  a  run  for  it.  The  horse  seemed  to  take  in 
the  situation  and  put  in  his  best  licks  to  carry  his  master  through 
a  shower  of  bullets  that  the  Rebels  sent  after  the  horse  and  his 
rider.  It  looked  as  though  both  would  get  away  all  right  when 
just  as  Curtin  had  jumped  his  mount  over  a  fence  the  horse  was 
shot  behind  the  ear  and  instantly  killed.  Curtin,  who  was  young 
and  spry  in  those  days,  went  right  on  over  the  horse's  head  and 
got  away  almost  miraculously  without  a  scratch. 

Curtin's  horse  was  the  one  the  boys  presented  to  him  in  Ken 
tucky,  referred  to  in  another  chapter  of  this  book.  "Burnside," 
as  they  called  him,  was  a  good  horse  and  had  he  rendered  no  other 
service  than  to  save  his  master  from  capture  that  day  he  would 
have  paid  what  he  cost  many  times  over. 

We  got  decidedly  the  worst  of  it  in  this  set-to  with  the  enemy 
but  the  result  was  no  reflection  on  the  bravery  and  good  conduct 
of  the  men.  Bad  management  or  carelessness  by  superior  officers 
was  the  cause  of  our  undoing".  Our  brigade  was  pushed  forward 
too  far  without  proper  support,  and  the  enemy,  always  alert  and 
watching  for  mistakes  of  that  kind,  got  in  on  our  flanks  and  rear 
and  gathered  in  the  best  part  of  three  regiments,  just  as  they  cap 
tured  a  brigade  of  the  Fifth  Corps  on  August  iQth  under  practi 
cally  the  same  conditions. 

First  Lieutenant  James  P.  Gregg  of  Company  D,  acting  adju 
tant  of  the  Forty-fifth,  was  killed.  Lieutenant  Gregg  was  a  brave 
and  accomplished  officer.  His  death  wras  a  severe  loss  to  the  regi 
ment.  Among  the  commissioned  officers  captured  were  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Gregg  commanding  the  regiment,  Captain  John  F.  Trout 
of  Company  C,  acting  major,  and  Captain  R.  C.  Cheeseman  of  Com 
pany  F,  who  later  on  commanded  the  regiment. 

In  Company  G,  Sergeants  David  L.  Bacon  and  Jasper  R.  White 
and  Privates  D.  H.  Belcher,  George  R.  Derbeyshire,  H.  N.  Gile, 
James  Morse,  W.  J.  Mickle,  W '.  W '.  Peterson  and  P.  P.  Smith  were 
captured. 

In  Company  I,  Robert  S.  Orr  and  Cornelius  Saxbury  were 
killed.  Sergeant  Andrew  Strong  and  Corporal  John  Hancock  w^ere 
severely  wounded,  and  the  following  named  members  of  the  com 
pany  taken  prisoners :  Sergeant  Wm.  Hoffman,  Corporals  Malcolm 
A.  Royce  .and  J.  D.  Strait,  and  Privates  John  S.  Beach,  Joseph 
Cahn,  A.  C.  Ellsworth,  James  English,  Joseph  O.  English,  Lewis 


The  W eld on  Railroad  and  Pe grain's  Farm  167 

Elliott,  Patrick  Maney,  John  P.  Miller,  H.  H.  Sawyer,  P.  R.  Sher 
man,  H.  H.  Smith,  John  Wilkinson  and  J.  H.  Wood. 

I  give  the  casualties  in  these  two  companies  because  I  found 
a  record  of  them  in  a  letter  I  sent  home  a  few  clays  after  the  bat 
tle  and  I  know  the  list  is  correct. 

Members  of  the  regiment  who  had  not  reenlisted  and  whose 
term  of  service  of  three  years  had  practically  expired  (most  of 
those  in  Company  G  enlisted  about  the  middle  of  September,  but 
were  not  mustered  into  the  United  States  service  until  October  2Oth, 
1861),  were  excused  from  going  into  the  fight  on  September  3<Dth, 
1864. 

The  old  flag,  the  one  we  got  at  Harrisburg  in  1861,  was  also 
kept  out  of  the  engagement  at  Poplar  Spring  Church  and  to  the 
best  of  our  knowledge  was  sent  back  to  Harrisburg  the  latter 
part  of  October  at  about  the  same  time  the  boys  who  did  not  re- 
enlist  went  home. 

After  Sergeant  Bacon  was  taken  prisoner  Corporal  C.  T.  Kel- 
ley  commanded  Company  G  for  some  time.  Kelley  and  I  tented 
together  while  he  commanded  the  company.  I  served  him  as  faith 
fully  as  I  had  Bacon  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties  as  "Adjutant 
General"  of  Company  G,  making  out  all  reports  and  other  official 
papers.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  others  to  say  that  44Tonr'  Kel 
ley  was  one  of  the  best  soldiers  in  the  regiment.  He  served  from 
September,  1861,  until  discharged  in  June,  1865,  on  account  of 
wound  received  in  action. 

On  October  I4th,  Charles  Merlin  of  the  Second  Maryland 
Volunteers  in  our  division  was  executed  for  attempting  to  desert 
to  the  enemy.  The  execution  took  place  in  the  presence  of  General 
Potter  and  the  entire  Second  Division  which  was  drawn  up  on 
three  sides  of  a  hollow  square  to  witness  it.  Several  of  our  com 
pany  were  among  those  detailed  to  guard  the  prisoner  before  and 
during  the  execution.  Seated  blindfolded  on  his  coffin  alongside 
an  open  grave  in  which  he  knew  he  was  to  be  buried  the  unfor 
tunate  man  met  his  fate  apparently  unconcerned.  It  didn't  take 
long  to  do  the  job.  The  officer  in  charge  of  the  firing  squad 
dropped  his  handkerchief  as  a  signal,  there  was  a  volley  of,  I  think, 
12  guns  (one  of  which  was  loaded  with  a  blank  cartridge),  and  it 
was  all  over.  The  poor  devil  fell  over  backward,  his  head  striking 
the  lid  of  his  coffin  with  a  sickening  thud  that  I  could  hear,  or 
thought  I  could  hear,  for  several  days  afterward.  It  was  a  grue- 


1 68     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

some  proceeding  all  around.  We  had  seen  men  shot  and  killed 
but  not  in  that  way.  It  was  an  ignominious  fate  that  overtook 
Charles  Merlin;  yet  a  condemned  soldier,  if  he  had  any  sense  and 
was  worth  his  salt,  always  considered  it  a  rare  privilege  to  be 
shot  instead  of  hanged  as  most  condemned  soldiers  were. 

On  October  2Oth,  Lieutenant  Samuel  Haynes  and  seven  en 
listed  men  of  Company  G,  who  did  not  reenlist  when  the  rest  of 
us  did,  were  mustered  out  and  went  home.  We  were  sorry  to  lose 
Lieutenant  Haynes;  although  he  had  been  serving  as  regimental 
quartermaster  since  our  reenlistment  and,  of  course,  we  did  not 
miss  him  so  much  in  the  company  as  if  he  had  been  with  us  right 
along.  Haynes  was  a  good  drill-master.  To  him  as  much  as  to 
anybody  the  company  was  indebted  for  its  proficiency  in  the  manual 
of  arms.  We  all  liked  "Sam"  Haynes.  He  was  a  big-hearted,  gen 
erous  man  as  well  as  a  good  officer. 

The  enlisted  men  discharged  were  Sergeant  L.  W.  Thompson, 
Corporal  S.  R.  Rogers  and  Privates  Peter  Bellinger,  V.  S.  Culver, 
R.  F.  Patterson,  Morris  Smith  and  Joseph  Willard.  These  com 
rades  had  served  three  full  years  and  had  made  honorable  records. 
As  many  if  not  more  on  an  average  were  mustered  out  from  each 
of  the  other  companies.  The  discharge  of  these  comrades  at  this 
time,  together  with  the  fearful  losses  we  had  sustained  during  the 
Wilderness  campaign  and  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  reduced  the  old 
Forty-fifth  down  to  a  shattered  remnant  of  its  former  self.  We 
looked  more  like  a  company  than  a  regiment  in  the  fall  of  1864! 

October  26th.  Engineers  built  an  abattis  around  Fort  Fisher. 
Troops  moving  to  the  left  all  the  afternoon.  Fort  Fisher  (not  the 
one  that  Ben.  Butler  didn't  take),  was  the  name  of  the  works  we 
occupied. 

October  27th.  A  strong  force  consisting  of  portions  of  the 
Second,  Fifth  and  Ninth  Corps  tried  to  turn  the  enemy's  right 
flank  in  the  vicinity  of  Hatcher's  Run.  Our  division  started  out 
early  in  the  morning  and  marching  a  couple  of  miles  we  formed 
line  of  battle  and  stayed  there  supporting  the  Third  Division  of 
the  Ninth  Corps  while  it  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  carry 
the  enemy's  works,  which  were  stronger  than  had  been  expected. 
The  afternoon  and  night  were  rainy  and  cold  and  altogether  we 
had  a  nasty  time  of  it.  There  were  no  casualties  in  the  Forty-fifth. 
Next  day,  the  28th,  we  marched  back  and  occupied  our  old  stamp 
ing  ground  in  Fort  Fisher.  This  movement  was  made  in  an  at- 


The  Weldon  Railroad  and  Pe gram's  Farm  169 

tempt  to  get  possession  of  the  South  Side  Railroad.  General  Grant 
says  himself  in  his  Memoirs  that  our  troops  didn't  get  "nearer  than 
six  miles  of  the  point  aimed  for."  There  was  not  much  doing  on 
that  part  of  the  line  for  several  weeks  after  that. 

November  ist,  the  Second  Division  of  the  Ninth  Corps  of  which 
we  formed  a  part  (a  very  small  part  now),  was  reviewed  by  Gen 
eral  Potter,  my  diary  says. 

The  presidential  election  in  which  the  soldiers  at  the  front  were 
allowed  to  take  part  was  held  November  8th.  An  election  board 
was  appointed  for  each  regiment,  it  falling  to  my  lot  to  be  one  of 
the  clerks  in  the  Forty-fifth.  The  election  passed  off  quietly,  every 
one  voting  as  he  had  a  mind  to.  Discipline  and  obeying  orders  did 
not  count  so  far  as  voting  was  concerned.  My  diary  says  we  polled 
116  votes  (a  pretty  good  indication  of  the  strength  of  the  regi 
ment  at  that  time),  of  which  Lincoln  received  97  and  McClellan 
19.  Most  of  the  boys  were  for  "Old  Abe"  first,  last  and  all  the 
time,  but  there  were  some  who  believed  that  the  country  would  be 
better  off  with  McClellan  in  the  saddle  at  the  White  House  as  well 
as  in  the  field.  Looking  over  the  published  returns  of  the  vote  in 
the  army  one  is  surprised  to  find  that  some  regiments — not  many — 
actually  cast  a  majority  of  votes  for  McClellan. 

A  few  extracts  from  my  diary  will  give  an  idea  of  how  we 
passed  the  time  during  the  next  three  or  four  weeks : 

November  izj-th.  Boys  excused  from  duty  to  fix  up  quarters. 
The  duty  referred  to  must  have  been  standing  guard  or  picket  or 
getting  up  wood,  as  that  was  about  all  there  was  to  do  at  that 
time.  In  fixing  up  our  quarters  each  one  had  opportunity  to  show 
his  enterprise  and  ingenuity  in  devising  means  to  make  the  place 
he  occupied  cozy  and  comfortable. 

November  24th.  Thanksgiving  Day.  Weather  cool  and  clear. 
Had  codfish  balls  for  dinner. 

On  the  29th  the  monotony  of  camp  life  was  broken  by  the  re 
ceipt  of  marching  orders.  Leaving  camp  at  11:50  A.  M.,  we 
marched  six  miles  to  the  right  and  bivouacked  for  the  night  near 
Grant's  military  railroad.  Next  morning  we  occupied  quarters 
vacated  by  a  portion  of  Second  Corps.  This  movement  was  made 
in  pursuance  of  orders 'to  the  effect  that  the  First  and  Second  Di 
visions  of  our  corps  should  relieve  Mott's  and  Gibbons'  Divisions 
of  the  Second  Corps,  these  two  divisions  to  take  our  place  on  the 
line.  Why  they  made  us  swap  places  with  the  Second  Corps  we 


170     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

never  knew.  It  was  none  of  our  business.  The  arrangement,  how 
ever,  was  satisfactory  to  us.  It  brought  us  near  our  old  camping 
ground  that  we  occupied  during  the  summer  before  the  mine  ex 
plosion.  The  position  assigned  to  us  was  in  rear  of  what  was  called 
Fort  Meikel.  Not  far  off  to  our  left  stood  Fort  Sedgwick,  nick 
named  "Fort  Hell,"  so  called,  I  suppose,  because  Fort  Mahone  on 
the  other  side  used  to  pour  shot  and  shells  into  it  like — like  what 
we  called  it!  And  the  Rebels  gave  their  own  Fort  Mahone  the 
sobriquet  of  "Fort  Damnation,"  because  we  made  it  so  hot  over 
theie  with  our  batteries.  So  for  once  at  least  the  two  bad  places 
were  trying  to  destroy  each  other ! 

It  took  us  several  days  to  put  our  new  quarters  in  shape  to  suit 
us.  We  built  chimneys  of  tin  cans  filled  with  mud  and  chinked 
up  the  cracks  in  our  shanties  with  the  same  material. 

On  December  loth  we  witnessed  another  military  execution. 
Two  men,  Charles  Smith  and  Edward  Rowe  of  the  One  Hundred 
Seventy-ninth  New  York,  were  hanged  side  by  side  on  the  same 
scaffold.  One  of  them,  I  remember,  walked  firmly  to  the  gallows 
smoking  a  cigar  until  it  was  time  to  pull  the  black  cap  over  his  face. 
His  companion  in  misfortune  and  crime  (if  they  were  guilty), 
showed  more  feeling.  He  tried  to  be  brave,  but  the  expression  on 
his  face  as  he  looked  up  at  the  dangling  rope  with  a  noose  already 
fixed  for  his  neck  gave  him  away.  We  understood  these  two  young 
men  were  tried,  condemned  and  executed  for  desertion  and  rape. 
The  ignominy  of  these  executions  was  made  as  conspicuous  as 
possible  to  serve  as  a  warning  to  other  would-be  deserters  and  crim 
inals. 

We  had  received  marching  orders  the  day  before  and  about 
dark  on  the  day  of  the  execution,  loaded  down  with  three  days' 
rations  and  60  rounds  of  ammunition,  we  started  out,  we  knew  not 
where,  and  marched  all  night.  A  cold  December  rain  and  the  fear 
ful  condition  of  the  roads — the  mud  was  ankle  deep  and  sticky- 
made  this  one  of  the  most  tedious  marches  of  our  experience  and 
that  is  saying  a  good  deal.  Arriving  at  what  my  diary  says  was 
"Stony  Creek"  about  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  nth,  we 
stayed  there  until  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and  started  back  to 
our  old  camp,  without  having  come  in  contact  with  the  enemy  or 
knowing  then  what  it  was  all  about.  The  weather  had  suddenly 
turned  cold  and  anyone  who  has  tramped  through  freezing  mud 
knows  what  we  had  to  contend  with.  I  shall  never  forget  that 


The  Weldon  Railroad  and  Pe gram's  Farm  171 

march  of  the  longest  22  miles  I  ever  saw.  Had  it  not  been  that  I 
chanced  (chanced  is  all  right,  if  you  don't  believe  it,  ask  the  boys), 
to  have  a  small  flask  of  "fermenti"  in  my  pocket  that  night  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  should  have  tried  to  make  camp  at  all  but  let  the 
Johnnies  gobble  me  up,  I  was  that  dead  tired  and  used  up.  This 
movement  in  which  our  division  participated  we  learned  afterward 
was  made  in  support  of  General  Warren,  who  with  the  Fifth  Corps, 
was  making  an  extended  raid  across  the  Nottaway  river,  tearing  up 
a  lot  of  the  Weldon  Railroad.  As  a  matter  of  fact  W^arren  had 
got  lost  and  they  sent  out  to  see  what  had  become  of  him. 

In  his  instructions  to  General  Potter,  General  Meade  says  in 
part :  "General  Warren  left  here  on  the  7th  with  six  days'  rations. 
To-day  (December  loth),  being  his  fourth  day,  unless  prevented 
by  the  enemy  he  should  be  on  his  return  to-morrow.  The  great 
object  in  view  is  to  support  General  Warren." 

We  reached  camp  about  ten  o'clock  that  night  and  my  diary  for 
next  day  simply  says :  "Regiment  nearly  all  sick.  Under  march 
ing  orders  all  day."  But  we  didn't  go  anywhere.  In  fact  this  was 
the  last  offensive  movement  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the 
year  1864.  From  that  time  on  we  settled  down  in  winter  quarters 
making  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  we  could  under  the  circum 
stances.  As  I  look  back  to  the  winter  of  1864-5  it  seems  to  me 
that  we  had  a  pretty  good  time.  Uncle  Sam  was  good  to  us.  He 
kept  us  well  clothed  and  we  had  plenty  of  rations  right  along,  in 
cluding  fruits,  vegetables  and  other  healthful  green  stuff,  fur 
nished  by  the  Sanitary  Commission. 

On  December  7th,  First  Sergeant  John  J.  Rogers  of  Company 
G,  came  to  the  regiment  from  the  hospital  where  he  had  been  since 
June  3d,  when  he  was  desperately  wounded  .at  Cold  Harbor.  He 
immediately  took  command  of  the  company  and  December  i6th. 
Sergeant  Rogers  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  and  commanded 
the  company  during  the  remainder  of  our  service. 

As  early  as  the  middle  of  November  batches  of  recruits,  sub 
stitutes  and  drafted  men,  began  to  arrive  from  the  north  to  fill  up 
the  depleted  ranks  of  veteran  regiments.  They  kept  coming  from 
time  to  time  during  the  latter  part  of  November,  in  December  and 
the  forepart  of  January;  the  last  batch  reaching  us,  I  think,  on 
Friday,  January  I3th,  1865.  Thirteen  of  these  were  assigned  to 
Company  G,  making  the  aggregate  strength  of  the  company  101, 
including  prisoners  of  war  and  other  absentees.  The  total  number 


172     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

of  recruits  assigned  to  Company  G  was  59 — 52  substitutes  and  seven 
drafted  men.  Between  400  and  500  of  these  substitutes  and  drafted 
men  were  assigned  to  the  Forty-fifth.  There  were  some  good  sol 
diers  among  them;  but  the  majority  having  joined  the  army  for 
what  there  was  in  it  for  them  or  because  Uncle  Sam  had  them  cor 
ralled  and  they  had  to  go,  they  were  careful  not  to  render  any  more 
service  than  was  necessary  for  their  own  comfort  and  well  being. 
Some  of  those  fellows  were  past  masters  in  the  art  of  evading  mili 
tary  duty.  Very  few  of  them  took  kindly  to  military  discipline  in 
any  form.  Some  in  our  company  wrere  regular  "toughs."  The  only 
way  to  manage  them  was  to  impress  on  their  minds — and  elsewhere 
if  necessary — that  obeying  orders  was  not  the  most  disagreeable 
feature  of  army  life.  They  soon  got  onto  it  that  standing  guard, 
drilling  or  maybe  getting  up  wood  and  performing  other  camp 
duties  was  a  pleasant  pastime  after  being  "bucked  and  gagged"  a 
few  hours. 

Turning  to  my  diary  I  find  under  date  of  January  loth,  "Happy 
Jack  tied  up  by  Captain  Cheeseman."  Happy  Jack,  whose  real 
name  I  have  forgotten,  was  one  of  the  worst  "pills"  in  the  com 
pany  and  gave  us  a  lot  of  trouble. 

Meanwhile  some  important  changes  had  occurred  at  regimental 
headquarters.  Captain  Roland  C.  Cheeseman  of  Company  F,  took 
command  of  the  regiment  December  25th,  relieving  Captain  Lafa 
yette  W.  Lord  of  Company  A,  who  had  commanded  the  regiment 
most  of  the  time  since  the  battle  of  Poplar  Spring  Church.  Sergeant- 
Major  Decatur  Dickinson  was  promoted  to  adjutant  November 
3Oth,  and  Sergeant  Jacob  Meese  of  Company  A,  took  Dickinson's 
place  as  sergeant-major.  January  3ist  following,  Meese  was  pro 
moted  to  second  lieutenant  of  Company  F  and  later  on  to  first 
lieutenant  of  the  same  company.  Corporal  Homer  S.  Thompson 
of  Company  E,  took  Meese's  place  as  sergeant-major.  December 
28th  Private  Eugene  Beauge  of  Company  G,  was  appointed  clerk 
for  the  adjutant  and  served  in  that  capacity  until  the  regiment  was 
mustered  out. 

Right  here  I  want  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  courtesy 
with  which  I  was  treated  at  regimental  headquarters,  especially  in 
the  adjutant's  office  where  my  work  was.  Adjutant  Decatur  Dick 
inson  was  one  of  the  best  natured  men  in  the  regiment.  He  never 
seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry  and  never  fretted,  but  always  managed  to 
get  his  reports  and  other  official  papers  out  on  time  and  in  good 


The  Weldon  Railroad  and  Pe gram's  Farm  173 

shape.  I  did  what  I  could  to  help  him  and  venture  to  say  he  never 
had  cause  for  worry  on  account  of  the  work  in  the  adjutant's  office 
in  his  absence,  if  his  clerk  was  on  deck — and  he  most  always  was. 

"Gate"  Dickinson's  many  friends  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  at 
this  writing  (February,  1911),  he  is  prospering  "out  West." 

Sergeant-Major  Meese  was  not  in  the  office  a  great  while — 
only  about  a  month — but  he  made  a  good  record  while  he  was  there. 
Quiet  and  gentlemanly  in  his  deportment,  the  only  time  I  ever 
knew  him  to  kick  over  the  traces  and  be  anything  but  sedate  was 
one  evening  when  he  came  up  to  headquarters  and  asked  us  to  help 
him  "wet"  his  commission  as  lieutenant  of  Company  F.  It  was  a 
reasonable  request  and  my  recollection  is  that  we  did  what  we  could 
to  help  him  out. 

Homer  Thompson,  who  took  Meese's  place,  was  a  good  ser 
geant-major,  prompt  and  methodical  in  everything  he  did,  and  he 
was  easy  to  get  along  with.  We  worked  together  six  months  in 
the  adjutant's  office  and  were  good  friends  all  the  time.  In  fact 
we  were  better  friends,  if  anything,  when  the  regiment  disbanded 
and  we  parted  never  to  meet  again  than  when  our  acquaintance  be 
gan.  Poor  old  Homer!  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  he  is  dead  and 
gone. 

There  was  not  much  doing  on  the  firing  line  during  the  winter 
months,  although  some  of  the  pickets  exchanged  shots  now  and 
then  and  as  likely  as  not  the  booming  of  cannon  would  break  the 
stillness  of  the  night  once  in  a  while.  One  day  a  member  of  Com 
pany  E  was  wounded  by  a  stray  bullet  from  the  enemy's  camp 
while  attending  roll  call  in  front  of  his  quarters.  Another  time, 
although  earlier  in  the  season,  I  think  it  was,  a  member  of  the 
regiment  was  cleaning  his  gun  under  a  tree,  whistling  away,  totally 
unconscious  of  danger,  when  a  stray  ball  struck  a  limb  above  him 
and  glancing  downward  just  missed  his  head  and  entered  his 
body  between  the  neck  and  shoulder.  Dropping  his  gun  the  first 
thing  the  poor  fellow  said  after  he  was  hit  was  to  call  for  water. 
"Water,  water!"  was  the  burden  of  his  cry.  The  wound,  if  I  re 
member  right,  was  fatal;  but  the  point  is  that  the  first  thing  a 
wounded  soldier  needed  and  the  first  thing  he  called  for  if  he  didn't 
have  it  was  water.  And  God  only  knows  how  many  poor  fellows 
perished  miserably  on  the  battlefield  calling  in  vain  for  water  to 
quench  their  consuming  thirst  and  make  it  easier  for  them  to  die ! 


174     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Drilling,  guard  and  picket  duty,  inspections,  policing  the  streets, 
polishing  up  guns  and  accoutrements,  and  dress  parade  occasion 
ally — these  we  had  with  us  all  winter.  Drilling  was  more  im 
portant  after  the  "subs"  and  drafted  men  joined  us,  and  it  took  a 
lot  of  hard  work  and  patience  to  teach  those  raw  recruits  the  manual 
of  arms  and  the  different  evolutions  of  company  and  battalion  drill 
that  we  all  had  to  learn  in  order  to  be  good  for  anything  as  soldiers. 

To  go  back  a  little  I  find  in  my  diary  for  Friday,  January  2/th, 
"In  the  evening  one  man  of  each  company  drew  cuts  for  a  furlough 
for  meritorious  conduct.  Corporal  Beaver  of  Company  K,  the 
lucky  man."  Maybe  some  of  the  boys  who  read  this  will  remem 
ber  the  circumstance.  It  must  have  been  Corporal  John  H.  Beaver, 
who  I  am  told,  was  a  cousin  of  Ex-Governor  James  A.  Beaver, 
who  got  the  furlough.  Furloughs  were  granted  quite  freely  to 
officers  and  men  at  the  front  during  the  months  of  February  and 
March  before  the  beginning  of  the  spring  campaign,  which  every 
body  knew  was  brewing.  The  first  requisite  for  a  furlough  was  a 
formal  written  application  giving  some  cogent  reason  why  a  fur 
lough  was  desired.  I  made  out  quite  a  number  of  these  applica 
tions  for  the  boys.  Usually  the  health  or  well  being  of  some  rela 
tive  or  dear  friend  was  mixed  up  in  the  "reasons"  why  a  furlough 
was  absolutely  necessary.  The  application  was  merely  a  matter  of 
form  and  if  the  applicant  was  a  good  soldier  and  there  was  nothing 
against  him  the  officer  whose  signature  was  required  merely  glanced 
at  the  paper,  "winked  his  other  eye,"  wrote  "Respectfully  forwarded 
and  approved,"  across  the  back  of  the  paper  and  after  signing  his 
name  passed  it  along.  The  signatures  of  the  company,  regimental, 
brigade,  division  and  corps  commanders,  if  I  remember  right,  were 
required  for  a  furlough.  When  my  turn  came  to  ask  for  a  fur 
lough  on  the  Qth  day  of  March,  1865,  I  didn't  have  to  manufac 
ture  an  excuse.  My  aged  mother,  who  had  become  a  widow  since 
my  enlistment  in  1861,  was  in  poor  health  and  I  wanted  to  make 
her  a  visit.  Certainly.  But  Captain  Cheeseman,  who  commanded 
the  regiment  would  have  his  little  joke.  "More  likely  it's  your 
best  girl  that  you  want  to  see  instead  of  your  mother,  but  that's 
all  right,"  he  said,  his  kindly  face  beaming  with  good  humor.  He 
had  been  there  himself  and  knew  all  about  it.  "Give  her  my  love 
but  keep  hers  for  yourself."  I  received  my  furlough  next  day  and 
got  back  to  the  regiment  about  five  o'clock  Sunday  afternoon,  April 
2d,  1865,  Just  'n  time  to  miss  getting  mixed  up  in  the  assault  on 


The  Weldon  Railroad  and  Pe gram's  Farm  175 

the  enemy's  works  before  Petersburg  in  which  the  Forty-fifth  par 
ticipated  and  lost  five  men  killed,  four  officers  and  29  men  wounded 
and  one  officer  and  20  men  missing,  making  an  aggregate  loss  of 
59.  Others  will  describe  the  engagement  but  may  not  mention  the 
fact  that  under  date  of  May  29th,  1865,  General  John  G.  Parke  offi 
cially  recommended  that  medals  of  honor  be  awarded  to  the  follow 
ing  named  members  of  the  Forty-fifth  "who  by  their  personal  valor 
distinguished  themselves  in  the  assault  on  Fort  Mahone  April  2d, 
1865:  Color  Sergeant  Andrew  J.  Goodfellow,  Company  A;  Cor 
poral  John  Kinsay,  Company  B ;  Corporal  Henry  Irvin,  Company 
E;  Corporal  David  W.  Reese,  Company  G;  Private  Edward  Mills, 
Company  I. 

Lieutenant  Levi  R.  Robb  of  Companv  H,  a  brave,  capable  young 
officer,  was  mortally  wounded  by  a  piece  of  shell  during  the  assault 
on  the  enemy's  works  on  April  2d  and  died  a  few  days  later. 


176     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


CHAPTER  XII 

CLOSING  EVENTS 

BY  EUGENE  BEAUGE 

Monday  morning,  April  3d,  the  Confederate  works  in  our 
front  were  empty  and  we  marched  in  and  took  possession.  It  is 
nothing  uncommon  for  soldiers  to  cheer.  We  had  heard  a  good 
deal  of  that  sort  of  thing  but  never  such  cheers  as  rolled  along  the 
line  that  morning. 

While  marching  to  Petersburg  about  eleven  o'clock  we  opened 
ranks  to  let  President  Lincoln  with  a  small  cavalcade,  including  his 
two  sons,  pass  us  and  then  there  was  a  lot  more  cheering.  Riding 
at  a  slow  gallop  through  our  division,  guiding  his  horse  with  one 
hand,  his  stove-pipe  hat  in  the  other,  Mr.  Lincoln  seemed  very  con 
tented  that  morning  as  he  bowed  and  smiled  in  response  to  our 
cheers.  And  no  wonder!  After  four  years  of  weary  waiting  and 
great  tribulation  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  war  had  come. 
"Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  wre  pray  that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  may  pass  away,"  he  says  in  his  second  inaugural  address. 
And  now  his  hope  was  to  be  realized  and  his  prayer  about  to  be 
answered. 

In  the  afternoon  we  marched  through  Petersburg  with  beating 
drum  and  flying  colors.  Negroes  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  were 
out  in  force  to  welcome  us  and  were  about  as  happy  as  they  could 
be  and  did  not  care  who  knew  it.  The  few  white  people  we  saw 
were  quiet  but  manifestly  sullen.  They  had  no  use  for  the  Yankees. 

This  was  Monday  of  what  may  be  called  the  last  week  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  a  week  of  strenuous  endeavor  it  was  for  both 
armies — Lee  doing  his  best  to  get  away  and  join  Johnston,  and 
Grant  straining  every  nerve  to  head  him  off  and  capture  the  whole 
outfit,  which  he  finally  did.  Sheridan  with  his  cavalry  took  the 
lead  and  was  at  the  fore  front  all  the  time.  But  Sheridan  knew 
as  well  as  anybody  that  it  was  necessary  to  have  good  backing  in 
any  kind  of  a  fight.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac,  including  the  Ninth 
Corps,  was  supporting  Sheridan  in  the  brilliant  campaign  that  ended 
at  Appomattox  and,  of  course,  are  entitled  to  their  share  of  the 
credit.  Part  of  the  task  assigned  to  the  Ninth  Corps,  which,  of 


Closing  Events  177 


course,  included  the  Forty-fifth,  was  to  guard  the  wagon  trains  and 
picket  the  South  Side  Railroad,  moving  forward  as  the  army  ad 
vanced  and  "scouting  and  picketing  well  to  the  Southward,"  as 
General  Parke  says  in  his  report,  "to  guard  against  any  incursion 
from  that  quarter  until  the  surrender  of  the  Rebel  Army  when  the 
Ninth  Corps  was  stretched  from  Sutherlands  (near  Petersburg) 
to  Farmville,"  a  distance  of  about  80  miles.  My  diary  covering 
the  same  period  is  rather  more  specific: 

Thursday,  April  4th,  left  camp  8  A.  M.,  marched  by  fits  and 
jerks  until  8  P.  M.,  and  camped  near  South  Side  Railroad.  Roads 
swampy  and  wet.  Weather  pleasant.  Threw  away  my  woolen 
blanket.  Saw  Rebel  brigadier  general  and  a  lot  of  prisoners. 

April  5th.  Broke  camp  10:30  A.  M.  Stopped  at  2  P.  M.  to 
make  coffee.  Marched  until  about  8  P.  M.  Our  regiment  sta 
tioned  in  advance  of  the  brigade.  Heavy  detail  for  picket.  Cooks 
compelled  to  make  fire  under  cover  of  banks  along  the  railroad. 
Cold  night.  Almost  wish  I  had  my  blanket  now.  Sound  of  artil 
lery  in  the  distance. 

April  6th.  Lay  in  camp  until  2  P.  M.  Boys  out  foraging  this 
forenoon.  Got  chickens  and  ham.  Marched  rapidly  all  the  after 
noon.  Heavy  cannonading  ahead.  Our  regiment  supporting  a 
battery.  Companies  F  and  G  rear  guard  for  the  brigade.  Went 
into  camp  at  1 1 :3O  P.  M.,  tired,  footsore  and  used  up,  having 
marched  16  miles  since  two  o'clock. 

April  7th.  Weather  wet.  Marched  about  a  mile  in  the  fore 
noon  and  camped  near  Burkeville.  At  5  P.  M.,  seven  or  eight 
thousand  Rebel  prisoners  and  18  pieces  of  artillery  came  from  the 
front  captured  by  General  Sheridan  yesterday.  Johnnies  in  good 
spirits  but  badly  off  for  rations.  Our  regiment  left  camp  to  guard 
the  prisoners.  Evening  sergeant-major  and  I  worked  until  eleven 
o'clock  to  make  out  tri-monthly  report.  More  heavy  cannonading 
toward  the  front  during  the  day. 

April  8th.  More  prisoners  came  in  about  noon.  In  the  after 
noon  our  regiment  escorted  Johnnies  to  railroad  station.  Marched 
back  to  Burkesville  and  occupied  the  camp  we  left  yesterday.  I 
made  out  a  report  of  prisoners,  etc.,  at  Burkesville  for  Major  Trout, 
acting  provost  marshal. 

Sunday,  April  Qth.  Visited  wounded  in  the  hospital.  Regi 
ment  left  camp  at  2  :3O  P.  M.  Marched  about  10  miles  toward 


178     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Farmville  and  camped  for  the  night.  Got  up  about  midnight  to 
put  up  tent.  Raining  hard  and  kept  on  raining  balance  of  the 
night. 

April  loth.  Marched  five  miles  to  Farmville  and  established 
our  camp  on  a  hill  overlooking  the  town,  relieving  a  portion  of  the 
Sixth  Corps.  In  the  evening  a  couple  of  the  boys  and  I  called  on 
some  darkies  in  town  and  got  them  to  bake  us  some  genuine  South 
ern  hoe-cakes.  It  tasted  good.  At  8  P.  M.,  the  news  was  officially 
read  to  us  that  Lee  and  his  entire  command  had  capitulated  to  Gen 
eral  Grant.  Great  cheering  among  the  soldiers  and  ringing  of  bells 
in  Farmville.  The  surrender  of  Lee's  army  took  place  about  three 
o'clock  Sunday  afternoon,  April  Qth.  The  Forty-fifth  was  then  on 
the  way  from  Burkesville  Junction  to  Farmville,  probably  from  20 
to  25  miles  away.  I  don't  remember  just  when  we  first  heard  the 
news  of  the  surrender,  but  of  course  it  was  before  eight  o'clock 
on  the  evening  of  the  loth.  1  have  an  idea  that  we  rather  doubted 
the  report  at  first.  The  news  seemed  too  good  to  be  true  and  it 
was  not  until  official  notification  of  the  event  had  been  read  to  us 
by  the  adjutant  that  we  dared  to  throw  up  our  caps  and  yell ! 

I  suppose  \ve  acted  like  lunatics.  I  don't  know  of  any  better 
way  to  put  it  than  to  say  that  officers  and  men  alike  were  crazy 
drunk  (with  joy)  and  acted  the  part.  All  but  General  Grant. 
Grant  never  got  excited.  Some  of  our  fellows  felt  so  good,  it 
seems  that  they  just  had  to  do  something.  Anyway  we  have  it 
from  good  authority  that  the  artillery  went  to  firing  salutes  after 
the  surrender,  but  Grant  promptly  put  a  stop  to  it.  "The  war  is 
over,"  he  said,  "the  Rebels  are  our  countrymen  again  and  the  best 
way  to  rejoice  will  be  to  keep  quiet." 

During  our  stay  in  the  vicinity  of  Farmville  we  got  to  be  quite 
chummy  with  the  Confederate  paroled  prisoners  who  were  much 
in  evidence  on  the  streets  after  the  surrender.  I  don't  know  what 
impression  we  made  on  their  minds,  but  they  looked  a  good  deal 
better  to  us  meekly  eating  our  hardtack  than  they  did  coming  at  us 
full  drive  with  loaded  muskets  and  yelling  like  destruction ! 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  felt  sorry  for  these  men,  going  home  as 
they  \vere,  penniless,  their  only  possessions  the  ragged  clothes  they 
wore,  their  lean  haversacks  and  a  load  of  sorrow  in  their  hearts. 
And  what  a  home-coming  it  was.  Desolation  and  ashes  everywhere ! 
With  buildings,  fences  and  all  land  marks  of  their  former  homes 
gone,  they  say  it  actually  bothered  some  of  the  returning  Rebel 


Closing  Events  179 


soldiers  to  find  where  they  used  to  live.     And  we  may  well  believe 
it. 

It  is  easy  enough  for  us  to  say  that  these  men  enlisted  and 
fought  in  the  worst  cause  for  which  soldiers  ever  went  to  battle 
and  got  what  they  deserved,  which  in  one  sense  is  true  enough. 
But  we  must  remember  that  most  of  them  wTere  just  as  sincere 
in  their  devotion  to  the  Southern  Confederacy  as  we  were  in  our 
loyalty  to  the  Union.  The  chances  are  that  if  you  and  I,  my  com 
rades,  had  lived  in  the  South  in  1861-5  we  should  have  been  Rebels, 
too! 

Our  fellows  and  the  Johnnies  did  quite  a  lively  business  ex 
changing  greenbacks  for  Confederate  script;  one  hundred  dollars 
of  their  money  for  one  of  ours  being  the  standard  quotation.  At 
that  rate  they  got  a  good  deal  the  best  end  of  the  bargain,  the  Rebel 
scrip  being  practically  worthless  as  money. 

On  April  I3th,  Captain  John  F.  Trout  of  Company  C,  w-as 
mustered  in  as  major  of  the  regiment,  his  promotion,  however, 
dating  from  March  3ist. 

April  1 6th.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gregg  came  back  from  Rebel 
prison  and  assumed  command  of  the  regiment  relieving  Captain 
Lord  of  Company  F,  who  had  been  in  command  since  the  2d  of 
April,  when  Captain  Cheeseman  was  wounded  with  loss  of  leg. 
Captain  Lord  enjoyed  the  unique  and  flattering  distinction  of  hav 
ing  entered  the  service  as  a  private  in  the  ranks  and  on  his  own 
merits  climbing  the  ladder  of  promotion  until  he  commanded  the 
regiment.  Not  a  bad  record  for  one  of  the  Boys  of  Sixty-one. 

In  the  afternoon  (Sunday,  April  i6th),  our  new  chaplain,  Rev. 
F.  A.  Cast,  my  diary  says,  preached  his  first  sermon  to  us.  As  a 
matter  of  record  Chaplain  Gast  was  not  mustered  until  May  i/th. 
He  must  have  been  with  us  about  a  month  on  trial  and  evidently 
made  good.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  rumors  were  rife  in 
camp  that  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Seward  had  been  as 
sassinated. 

April  1 8th.  Official  announcement  of  the  death  of  Lincoln 
was  read  to  us.  The  news  of  President  Lincoln's  death  made  a 
great  sensation  in  the  army.  Some  say  that  officers  and  men  fell 
on  each  other's  necks  and  cried  like  children.  I  didn't  see  anything 
of  that  kind,  but  I  knew  that  some  of  the  boys  who  had  been  through 
all  the  phases  of  war  without  flinching  were  moved  to  tears.  It 


180     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

was  well  enough  for  them  to  make  a  pretense  of  blowing  their 
noses  or  brushing  dirt  from  their  eyes,  but  we  knew  better! 

April  1 9th.  Went  fishing  in  the  Appomattox.  No  luck.  Cap 
tain  Charles  M.  Hart  of  Company  I,  and  some  other  officers  came  to 
the  regiment  from  Rebel  prison. 

April  2Oth.  Got  marching  orders.  Struck  tents  and  left  camp 
at  10  A.  M.  Stopped  at  i  P.  M.  to  make  coffee.  Our  regiment  in 
rear  of  the  brigade.  Arrived  at  Burkes ville  at  7  P.  M.  Reports 
current  that  Johnston  had  surrendered.  Boys  cheered  over  it. 
Breaking  camp  at  eight  thirty  next  morning  we  marched  30  odd 
miles — good  long  ones,  too,  as  we  were  getting  tired  and  foot 
sore — during  that  day  and  the  next,  and  camped  in  a  piece  of  woods 
about  5  P.  M.,  of  the  22d.  There  we  met  a  lot  of  conscripts  going 
to  the  front.  These  drafted  men  were  going  to  war  when  we  were 
coming  back  and  the  fighting  was  all  over.  Most  of  them  never 
fired  a  shot  in  the  service,  yet  if  you  care  to  hear  big  war  stories 
some  of  these  latter  day  recruits  will  probably  entertain  you  better 
than  we  can. 

Sunday,  April  23d,  we  left  camp  at  four-thirty  in  the  morning, 
marched  briskly  until  nine  o'clock  and  halted  near  Petersburg.  An 
hour  later  we  marched  through  the  town,  drums  beating  and  colors 
flying.  Citizens  were  out  in  force,  dressed  up  and  going  to  church. 
We  camped  between  the  city  and  the  old  fortifications.  Afternoon 
visited  the  Rebel  works,  including  the  crater,  the  field  in  the  vicin 
ity  being  still  covered  with  the  debris  of  the  terrible  conflict  of 
July  30,  1864.  We  also  made  a  flying  visit  to  our  old  camping 
ground.  Everything  seemed  natural  as  home  to  us. 

April  24th.  Left  camp  near  Petersburg  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  marched  to  City  Point.  Our  long,  strenuous  march 
of  82  miles  from  Farmville  was  over  and  we  felt  pretty  good 
over  it. 

On  the  25th  we  had  regimental  inspection.  In  the  evening  Jap 
White  and  John  J.  Johnson  of  Company  G  came  to  the  regiment 
from  Rebel  prison.  Next  day  toward  night  we  marched  to  the 
landing  and  after  a  good  deal  of  waiting  and  fussing,  our  regiment, 
the  Fifty-eighth  Massachusetts  and  the  artillery  of  our  brigade, 
got  jammed  together  on  board  the  steamer  "Glaucus."  Lay  at 
anchor  off  City  Point  all  night.  My  diary  for  next  day  says : 
"Journeyed  pleasantly  on  the  James.  Passed  Fortress  Monroe  at  I 
P.  M.  Afternoon  very  hot  on  deck.  Fixed  up  shade  with  our 


Closing  Events  181 


shelter  tents.  Boys  got  to  shooting  ducks  to  pass  away  the  time. 
Quite  a  rattle  of  musketry  until  the  colonel  put  a  stop  to  it.  Short 
ly  after  dark  anchored  at  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac."  Next  day, 
Friday,  April  28th,  we  arrived  at  Alexandria.  "Marched  through 
the  city  toward  Washington  and  camped  on  a  beautiful  green  plain." 
Next  day,  the  29th,  Captain  Richards  of  Company  G  came  to  the 
regiment  after  an  absence  of  nine  months,  most  of  the  time  spent  in 
Rebel  prisons.  We  had  a  pretty  good  time  in  camp  near  Alexan 
dria.  Soldiering  was  comparatively  easy,  but  not  free  from  disci 
pline  by  any  means.  In  proof  of  this  my  diary  for  May  3d  says : 
"Sergeant  -  —  reduced  to  the  ranks.  Had  his  stripes  torn  off  on 
dress  parade  after  the  order  had  been  read  to  the  whole  regiment." 
His  offense  was  imbibing  too  freely  of  "bug  juice." 

Dress  parades,  battalion  and  company  drills,  inspections,  re 
views  and  so  forth  were  kept  up  right  along  to  remind  us  that  we 
still  belonged  to  Uncle  Sam. 

On  the  afternoon  of  May  Qth,  Captain  and  Mrs.  Cheeseman 
were  in  camp.  We  were  pleased  to  see  Rolla  and  his  bride  (they 
had  been  married  but  a  few  months.)  Few  officers  in  the  regi 
ment  had  more  friends  than  Captain  Cheeseman.  A  disciplinarian 
not  to  be  trifled  with,  yet  he  was  friendly  and  never  put  on  airs. 
Add  to  this  the  fact  that,  as  one  of  the  boys  put  it,  he  was  a  "gritty 
little  cuss,"  never  showing  his  back  to  the  enemy,  and  you  have 
the  secret  of  Cheeseman's  popularity  among  the  boys. 

We  made  frequent  trips  to  Alexandria  and  Washington  al 
though  it  required  a  pass  from  brigade  headquarters  to  go  outside 
the  limits  of  our  camp. 

On  May  nth,  acting  Hospital  Steward  Deming  and  I  got  a 
pass  to  visit  Mount  Vernon.  It  was  a  beautiful  spring  morning, 
the  air  fragrant  with  the  rich  perfume  of  early  flowers.  To  me  the 
trip  and  the  visit  to  the  historic  spot  that  I  had  heard  and  read  so 
much  about  was  extremely  interesting  and  made  a  lasting  impres 
sion.  The  vault  where  rest  the  remains  of  the  Father  of  His 
Country;  the  different  apartments  of  the  spacious  mansion  on  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac  where  Washington  lived,  including  the  room 
where  he  died,  his  death  bed  still  standing ;  the  well  kept,  artistically 
laid  out  flower  and  vegetable  gardens — I  can  shut  my  eyes  and  see 
all  these  now  after  46  years.  Another  thing  that  riveted  our  at 
tention  was  the  great  key  of  the  Bastile,  presented  to  Washington 
by  his  friend  General  Lafayette.  The  key  hung  on  a  nail  in  the 


182     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

corridor  of  the  house.  To  see  that  alone  would  have  amply  paid 
me  for  the  trip.  We  Frenchmen  are  interested  in  anything  La 
fayette  did. 

The  records  of  Company  G  show  that  May  nth,  Captain  Rich 
ards  was  appointed  brigade  inspector  on  General  Curtin's  staff. 
We  were  sorry  to  have  Captain  Richards  leave  the  company.  One 
of  ten  Welsh  lads  who  enlisted  in  Company  G,  Richards  had  been 
with  us  through  thick  and  thin  in  all  our  campaigns  until  he  was 
captured  in  the  crater,  July  3Oth,  1864.  On  account  of  his  well 
known  qualifications  he  was  elected  orderly  sergeant  of  the  com 
pany  the  first  thing  after  we  enlisted.  A  fine  penman  and  painstak 
ing  in  everything  he  did  his  reports  and  official  papers  were  models 
of  neatness  and  accuracy.  Promoted  to  second  lieutenant  in  July, 
1862,  and  to  captain  immediately  after  the  battle  of  South  Moun 
tain,  where  he  commanded  the  company,  Richards,  at  20  years  of 
age,  wras  probably  the  youngest  captain  in  the  regiment.  Known 
in  the  army  as  a  young  man  of  ability  and  high  character,  his  de 
served  success  since  the  war  has  been  a  matter  of  pride  and  satis 
faction  to  his  old-time  comrades  of  the  Forty-fifth. 

How  many  of  the  boys  remember  the  illumination  and  parade 
on  Friday  evening,  May  I2th,  in  all  the  camps  of  the  Ninth  Corps? 
Every  man  carrying  a  lighted  candle,  some  in  the  muzzle  of  their 
guns,  we  marched  around  singing,  yelling  and  making  a  deal  of  a 
racket.  The  performance  ended  by  some  of  our  boys  going  to  Alex 
andria  and  being  put  in  the  guard  house.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  feeling  too  good. 

Monday,  May  I5th.  Three  corporals  of  Company  G  got  their 
4 'dander"  up  about  something  and  tore  off  their  own  stripes.  In 
the  evening  two  other  veterans  got  to  fighting  and  were  put  in 
the  "coop."  These  were  all  good  soldiers.  What  they  needed  was 
something  to  do  to  work  off  their  surplus  energy.  Camp  life  was 
too  easy  for  them.  They  could  not  stand  prosperity. 

Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  May  23d  and  24th,  occurred  the  his 
toric  Grand  Review  in  Washington.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac 
came  first.  Being  on  special  duty  at  that  time  and  not  serving  in 
the  ranks,  I  was  there  as  a  spectator.  Standing  near  the  Treasury 
Building  I  had  a  fine  view  of  the  troops  passing  down  Pennsylvania 
Avenue.  First  came  Sheridan's  Cavalry  led  by  Merritt.  Con 
spicuous  among  these  famous  troopers  was  General  Custer.  With 
his  long  yellow  hair  flowing  in  the  wind,  his  red  necktie  and  buck- 


Closing  Events  183 


skin  breeches,  he  looked  every  inch  the  dare-devil  that  he  was.  And 
how  Custer  could  ride!  His  horse,  a  vicious  brute,  tried  to  run 
away  with  him  and  created  quite  a  sensation  in  the  parade,  but  his 
master,  with  a  few  dexterous  twists,  soon  brought  him  to  time. 

After  the  cavalry  came  the  Ninth  Corps,  with  General  John 
G.  Parke,  at  the  head,  followed  by  the  Fifth  Corps,  under  Griffin, 
and  the  Second  commanded  by  Humphreys. 

It  was  a  peculiar  coincidence  that  neither  of  the  corps  com 
manders  who  had  led  these  veteran  troops  in  their  strenuous  cam 
paigns  was  present  at  the  Grand  Review.  It  almost  broke  Sheri 
dan's  heart  not  to  lead  his  command  on  that  occasion,  but  his  duty 
was  elsewhere.  Grant  had  sent  him  to  Texas  to  compel  the  sur 
render  of  the  last  Confederate  force  in  the  State  under  Kirby 
Smith.  Burnside  had  been  laid  on  the  shelf  since  shortly  after  the 
ill  starred  Mine  Explosion.  Hancock  had  retired  on  account  of 
wounds  and  Warren,  as  we  all  know,  was  relieved  by  Sheridan  at 
Five  Forks  and  Griffin  put  in  his  place. 

The  military  display  was  something  to  be  remembered  a  life 
time.  Inspiring  strains  of  martial  music  filled  the  air  with  such 
selections  as  "Tramp,  Tramp,  the  Boys  are  Marching,"  "When 
Johnny  Comes  Marching  Home,"  "When  This  Cruel  War  Is  Over," 
and  so  forth.  Probably  no  one  enjoyed  the  occasion  better  than 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Gregg,  who  led  the  Forty-fifth,  marching  by 
company  front,  in  the  parade.  Gregg,  as  we  all  know,  was  a  good 
officer  in  his  way  but  very  excitable.  We  can  almost  hear  his 
"Hem,  hem,  by  G — d,  Sir !"  as  he  went  storming  around  when 
things  didn't  go  to  suit  him.  In  the  absence  of  Captain  Richards, 
who  was  on  duty  on  General  Curtin's  staff,  Lieutenant  Rogers 
commanded  Company  G  in  the  parade. 

Next  day  Sherman's  veterans  had  their  innings  in  the  big 
parade.  Most  if  not  all  of  the  "Field  and  Staff"  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  went  to  Washington  to  see  the  show  that  day,  leaving  me  in 
charge  of  the  adjutant's  office  with  a  lot  of  work  to  do,  and  so, 
much  to  my  regret,  I  missed  seeing  the  picturesque  parade  of  Sher 
man's  legions  through  the  National  Capitol. 

A  few  more  extracts  from  my  diary  may  be  interesting:  Sun 
day,  June  4th.  String  band  from  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts 
came  over  to  serenade  the  colonel  about  midnight.  Kept  us  awake 
about  an  hour.  Fine  music,  but  the  boys  got  a  little  how-come- 
you-so  on  the  colonel's  beer  before  they  left. 


184     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Tuesday,  June  6th.  Evening  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  came 
over  in  a  body  to  bid  us  good-by.  Colonel  Gregg  made  a  speech  to 
them  which  was  responded  to  by  Colonel  Barker.  An  address  by 
General  Curtin  was  read.  Cheers  were  given  for  Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts,  Governor  Curtin,  Governor  Andrew  and  Generals 
Curtin,  Burnside  and  Grant. 

The  following  extract  from  the  History  of  the  Thirty-sixth 
Massachusetts  gives  their  version  of  this  farewell  meeting  between 
the  two  regiments : 

"On  the  6th  (of  June),  all  preparations  for  muster  out  having 
been  completed  orders  were  received  for  the  regiment  to  be  in 
readiness  to  depart  the  following  day. 

"That  evening  the  regiment  organized  a  torch  light  procession 
and  escorted  by  the  brigade  band,  marched  to  the  camp  of  our  com 
rades  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania.  It  was  the  last  time  these 
organizations  which  had  been  so  intimately  associated  since  Sep 
tember,  1862,  were  to  meet  as  regiments.  During  the  entire  term 
of  the  Thirty-sixth  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  its  service  this 
gallant  regiment  of  Pennsylvanians  had  never  been  separated  from 
it;  and  in  every  battle  in  which  we  had  been  engaged  we  had  felt 
their  strong  support  upon  our  right  or  left. 

'  "After  a  season  of   fraternal  conversation  Colonel   Gregg  of 
the  Forty-fifth  delivered  the  following  address : 

"  'Officers  and  men  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusets  Volun 
teers  : 

"  'Nearly  three  years  of  toil  and  blood  have  passed  since  our  first 
acquaintance  with  you.  Thinned  in  numbers  we  had  just  left  the 
victorious  fields  of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam.  From  that  day 
to  the  present  in  camp  and  on  the  toilsome  march  and  in  the  con 
flict  of  battle  you  have  stood  side  by  side  with  us,  contending  for 
our  country  against  treason  and  oppression.  Your  record  is  one 
of  which  the  glorious  old  Bay  State  may  well  be  proud ;  and  we 
are  sure  she  will  ever  count  your  organization  one  of  the  noblest 
she  has  sent  to  the  field. 

'  'Amid  scenes  of  conflict  we  have  learned  to  love  and  honor 
you;  and  as  the  blood  of  our  heroes  has  there  mingled  together,  so 
have  our  hearts  been  united  in  one  fraternal  bond  of  union  which 
time  cannot  sever.  With  the  brave  men  of  the  Thirty-sixth  by  our 
side  we  were  always  sure  of  hearty  support  and  final  victory ;  each 


Closing  Events  185 


vied  with  the  other  in  deeds  of  valor  and  trials  of  endurance  and 
both  shared  equally  the  honors  won. 

"  Together  we  have  thus  fought,  together  we  have  rejoiced  and 
wept — rejoiced  at  the  success  of  our  united  arms,  wept  for  the 
fallen  brave  around  us. 

'  'Now  all  is  changed.  The  white  winged  Messenger  of  Peace 
beckons  us  from  scenes  of  conflict  to  once  more  resume  the  avoca 
tions  of  industry  and  domestic  tranquility.  You  are  about  to  leave 
us  and  return  to  your  homes  in  the  old  Bay  State.  We  have  met 
probably  for  the  last  time.  Here,  under  the  folds  of  our  colors,  let 
us  strengthen  these  feelings  of  love  and  affection  which  have  closely 
united  our  destinies  in  the  field.  Let  us  also,  in  remembrance  of 
our  comrades  who  have  so  nobly  fallen,  and  whose  memory  we  will 
always  cherish,  pledge  ourselves  anew  to  the  flag  and  the  country 
we  love. 

"  'Brave  and  faithful  Sons  of  Massachusetts,  the  victory  is 
won !  Return  to  your  homes,  and,  as  you  recount  the  valor  of  your 
arms,  say  that  the  Keystone  boys  of  the  Forty-fifth,  sons  of  your 
ancient  sires,  defended  with  you  the  liberties  of  our  fathers  assailed 
by  rebellion  and  wrong. 

"  'Comrades  of  the  Thirty-sixth,  we  bid  you  an  affectionate  fare 
well  !' ' 

"This  address  was  received  with  great  applause.  Appropriate 
responses  were  made  by  the  members  of  the  Thirty-sixth;  and  we 
returned  (to  our  camp)  late  at  night,  with  the  conviction  that  we 
bore  with  us  the  esteem  and  affection  of  that  gallant  regiment."  • 

Thursday,  June  8th.  At  9  A.  M.,  our  regiment  formed  and 
marched  to  camp  of  the  Thirty-sixth,  expecting  them  to  start  for 
home.  Orders  countermanded  until  afternoon.  At  3  P.  M.,  the 
Forty-fifth  accompanied  by  the  brigade  band,  the  non-commissioned 
officers  carrying  small  flags  in  their  bayonets,  escorted  the  Thirty- 
sixth  to  town,  where  the  boys  of  the  two  regiments  bade  each  other 
a  last  fond  good-by.  At  the  landing  cheer  after  cheer  made  Old 
Alexandria  ring.  Our  old  standby  had  gone!  The  Thirty-sixth 
Massachusetts  was  a  fine  regiment.  They  were  brigaded  with  us 
during  their  entire  service.  We  missed  them  almost  as  much  as 
we  would  our  own  men.  Life  long  friendships  sprang  up  between 
members  of  the  two  regiments.  If  Jonathan  Butterworth  of  Com 
pany  C  still  lives  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  I  send  him  greeting.  If  he 


1 86     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

comes  my  way  he  will  get  a  cordial  welcome  and  a  French  hug". 
Long  live  the  boys  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts ! 

Quite  a  number  of  changes  and  promotions  occurred  among 
the  commissioned  officers  of  the  Forty-fifth  during  the  months  of 
May  and  June,  as  the  roster  will  show.  But  none  of  these  changes 
attracted  more  attention  than  the  promotion  of  Commissary  Ser 
geant  Jacob  Roath  to  first  lieutenant  of  Company  B.  "Jake"  had 
been  so  long  in  the  Commissary  Department  that  we  supposed  he 
was  a  permanent  fixture  there.  Anyway  we  had  no  idea  that  any 
one  could  do  any  more  than  rattle  around  in  his  place.  Charley 
Cook,  his  successor,  was  all  right  but  we  missed  Jake  Roath,  who 
beside  being  a  good  fellow,  was  an  ideal  type  of  a  Pennsylvania 
Dutchman.  We  missed  his  familiar,  open  countenance  and  cor 
dial  greeting  when  we  went  after  rations.  But  more  than  all  else 
we  missed  his  inimitable  "Fall  in  boys  and  get  your  wittles,"  or 
"Bring  a  wessel  to  get  your  winegar."  Nobody  could  say  that 
and  have  it  sound  as  he  said  it. 

My  diary  for  Friday,  July  7th,  says :  "Got  order  to  be  mus 
tered  out.  Three  cheers  for  that !"  Next  day  the  blank  muster  out 
rolls  came.  From  that  time  on  officers  and  clerks  who  had  to  fill 
out  the  rolls  were  more  than  busy.  The  boys  were  getting  out  of 
patience.  Now  that  the  war  was  over  they  were  anxious  to  get 
home.  But  disbanding  an  army  of  a  million  men  was  no  fool's  job. 
It  took  time,  and  we  have  learned  since  that  to  pay  us  off  Uncle 
Sam  had  to  reach  down  in  his  long  pocket  and  fork  out  about  $300,- 
000,000 !  That  doesn't  mean  that  we  all  got  $300  apiece ;  the  offi 
cers,  as  usual,  getting  the  lion's  share. 

Sunday,  July  i6th,  1865.  I  made  this  entry  in  ledger  heading 
letters  in  my  diary:  "Were  mustered  out  of  the  United  States 
service  this  morning.  Good  news  enough  for  one  day.  Evening 
boys  made  bonfire  of  brush.  Colonel  Gregg  made  a  speech."  Our 
discharges,  when  we  got  them  a  few  days  later,  were  dated  July 
1 7th,  but  we  were  mustered  out  on  Sunday,  July  i6th,  all  right. 

Monday  morning  we  got  aboard  the  transport  "Wawaset"  at 
Alexandria.  Arriving  in  Washington  an  hour  later  we  remained  in 
the  city  until  8  P.  M.,  and  took  the  cars  for  Baltimore,  where  we 
arrived  near  midnight.  Slept  on  the  streets. 

Tuesday,  July  i8th.  Left  Baltimore  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  and  arrived  at  Harrisburg  about  two  in  the  afternoon.  Such 


Closing  Events  187 


in  brief  is  the  itinerary  of  our  last  journey  in  the  service  of  Uncle 
Sam. 

After  dinner  of  bread  and  coffee  at  the  Soldiers'  Home  we 
marched  to  Camp  Curtin  and  pitched  our  tents  (or  did  we  go  into 
the  barracks)  for  the  last  time. 

On  Friday,  July  21,  1865,  just  three  years  and  ten  months  to  a 
day  after  Company  G  arrived  in  Camp  Curtin,  September  21,  1861, 
we  signed  the  pay  rolls  for  the  last  time  and  got  our  greenbacks 
and  our  "buzzards"  as  some  of  the  boys  called  their  discharges 
from  Uncle  Sam,  with  a  Spread  Eagle  on  them.  It  was  eleven 
o'clock  at  night  before  they  got  through  with  us;  but  we  lost  no 
time  in  making  our  way  to  the  nearest  railroad  station.  We  had 
no  orders  to  obey  then,  and  after  nearly  four  years  of  knuckling 
down  to  authority  it  seemed  a  queer  and  very  agreeable  sensation 
to  feel  that  we  could  go  and  come  when  we  got  ready.  That  was 
all  right,  but  as  my  diary  says,  "Many  a  tear  trickled  down  the 
bronzed  cheeks  of  old  comrades  when  the  time  came  to  bid  each 
other  goodbye !" 

That  was  47  years  ago — almost.  Many,  if  not  most  of  the 
boys  we  parted  with  that  day  have  crossed  the  Great  Divide.  Our 
turn  will  come  soon.  And  what  a  Grand  Reunion  there  will  be 
when  we  all  get  on  the  Other  Side  and  maybe  form  dress  parade 
on  the  Streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem !  Goodbye,  boys,  till  we  meet 
again ! 


1 88     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


KEY  TO  OFFICER'S  GROUP 


16 
15  26 

7  27 
17 

6  34 

14  25 

1  35 

8  18          28 

5         13  24         33 

19 
29  29         36 

12  23 

4  32 

20 

10    11  22    30 

3  31 

21 


1.  First  Lieut.  A.  A.  McDonald,  Co.  C.  19. 

2.  Capt.  Edgar  Eyde,  Co.  K.  20. 

3.  Quartermaster  William  Pfahler.  21. 

4.  Capt.  B.  C.  McManigal,  Co.  C.  22. 

5.  Sec.  Lieut.  Wesley  Gould,  Co.  F.  23. 

6.  First  Lieut.  W.K.  Whitlock,  Co.OD.  24. 

7.  Sec.  Lieut.  Thos.  J.  Davies,  Co.  G.  25. 

8.  First  Lieut  Jacob  S.  Roath,  Co.  B.  26. 

9.  Capt.  C.  M.  Hart,  Co.  I.  27. 

10.  Capt.  R.  C.  Cheeseman,  Co.  A.  28. 

11.  Lieut.-Col.  Theodore  Gregg.  29. 

12.  Capt.  John  M.  Kline,  Co.  B.  30. 

13.  First  Lieut.  W.C.Vanvalin,  Co.  A.  31. 

14.  Sec.  Lieut.  Michael  Heiney,  Co.  C.  32. 

15.  Sec.  Lieut.  Jos.  L.  Hinton^Co.  D.  33. 

16.  Sec.  Lieut.  Andrew  Strong,  Co.  I.  34. 

17.  S.  Lieut.  Armstrong  Bailey,  Co.  E.  35. 

18.  First  Lieut.  Chas.  H.  Kock,  Co.  K.  36. 


Capt.  Chas.  T.  Fryberger,  Co.  D. 
Surgeon  F.  B.  Davison. 
Col.  John  I.  Curtin. 
Maj.  John  F.  Trout. 
Capt.  John  Beck,  Co.  E. 
First  Lieut.  Jas.  E.  Catlin,  Co.  I. 
Sec.  Lieut.  Mbses/S.  Mullin,  Co.  B. 
Second  Lieut.  Jos.  Funk,  Co.  A. 
Sec.  Lieut.  Nathan  Edwards,  Co.  H. 
First  Lieut.  J.  W.  Meese,  Co.  F. 
Capt.  L.  W.  Lord,  Co.  F. 
Chaplain  F.  A.  Cast. 
Adjutant  Decatur  Dickinson. 
Capt.  Rees  G.  Richards,  Co.  G. 
First  Lieut.  JohryJ.  Rogers,  Co.  G. 
Sec.  Lieut.  E.  E.  Myers,  Co.  K. 
First  Lieut.  A.  W.  Harper,  Co.  E. 
Capt.   Luke  D.   Seely,  Co.  H. 


The  Commissioned  Officers  of  the  Forty-Fifth    Pa.  Vol.  Inf. 


Some  Statistics  189 


SOME  STATISTICS 

From  Fox's  Regimental  Losses  in  the  Civil  War. 

There  were  2,047  regiments  in  the  Union  Army  of  which  300 
are  classified  as  the  "Fighting  Regiments."  Of  the  infantry  regi 
ments  only  45  lost  200  or  more  men  killed  or  mortally  wounded  in 
action;  and  of  these  45  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Infantry 
stands  eighteenth  on  the  list  with  a  loss  of  227. 

Its  heaviest  losses  were  incurred  in  the  battles  of  South  Moun 
tain,  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  Cold  Harbor,  Siege  of  Peters 
burg,  Mine  Explosion,  Poplar  Springs  Church  and  Fall  of  Peters 
burg. 

Its  total  loss  by  death — killed  in  battle,  mortally  wounded,  dis 
ease  and  death  in  Rebel  prison — was  479 ;  total  of  killed  and 
wounded  in  an  enrollment  of  1,960  was  873. 

At  Cold  Harbor  and  at  Poplar  Springs  Church  the  loss  was 
over  half  of  those  who  went  into  battle;  and  of  its  numbers  98 
died  in  Rebel  prisons. 

In  the  Battle  of  the  Crater  it  captured  the  flag  of  the  Sixth 
Virginia. 

Of  the  regiment's  total  enrollment,  in  general  terms,  a  fourth 
died  during  the  war,  a  half  since  the  war,  and  a  fourth  are  living 
January  i,  1911. 

No  regiment  in  the  Ninth  Corps  lost  so  many  men  in  action  as 
the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania. 


THE  BAND 


Thomas  D.  Grant 
Leader 


Jarid   C.   Irwin 


Jesse  Metz 


G.  W.  Walls 


PART  II 


Company  J5>fcetc|)es  anto 

personal 
Hemtmscemes 


The  Band  193 


THE  BAND 

By  JARID  C.  IRWIN. 

A  number  of  regimental  bands  were  discharged  by  general  order,  issued 
September  14th,  1862.  By  permission  the  band  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania 
Volunteers  was  retained  until  the  29th  day  of  September,  1862,  when  it  was 
discharged  by  order  of  General  Burnside. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1861,  Leader  Thomas  D.  Grant,  Musicians  Jarid 

C.  Irwin,  Edward  M.  Bucher,  Samuel  P.  Bright,  W.  T.  Blair,  Jacob  Feig,  C. 

D.  Wharton,  L.  B.  Howard,  Jesse  Metz,  J.  C.  Miller,  Charles  D.  Snively,  Henry 
Stulen,  J.  P.  Strickland,  Samuel  Vanbuskirk,  George  W.  Weaver,  Philip  Wet- 
more,  Jacob  Weiser,  and  George  W.  Walls,  organized  a  band  to  be  known  as  "the 
Sunbury  Brass  Band,"  with  the  intention  of  enlisting  in  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment, 
Pennsylvania  Volunteer   Infantry,  as   such,  during  the  war.     The  band  as  or 
ganized    proceeded    to    Harrisburg,  Pa.,  and    was    sworn    in    the  service    and 
went  into  camp  at  Camp  Curtin.     After  camping  a  few  days  the  regiment  was 
ordered  to  Baltimore,  arrived  there  the  next  morning,  and  left  by  rail  for  Wash 
ington.    After  reaching  Washington  it  was  ordered  to  Fort  Monroe,  Va.    There 
a  light  snow  and  a  strong  wind  greeted  the  regiment  as  it  went  into  Camp  Hamil 
ton.    On  the  sixth  of  December  it  was  ordered  out  of  camp  and  marched  to  the 
wharf  and  embarked  on  board  the  transport  ship  Cosmopolitan,  and(  proceeded 
out  of  the  harbor,  passing  Cape  Henry  and  Cape  Charles.   By  this  time  some  of  the 
boys  became  seasick.     On  the  8th  we  passed  Sullivan  Island  and  Fort  Sumter 
and  arrived  at  Port  Royal  in  good  time  and  shape.     We  found  a  great  many 
vessels  in  the  harbor,  after  disembarking. 

The  regiment  was  divided,  one-half  starting  for  Bay  Point,  and  the  other,  with 
the  band  included,  went  aboard  a  transport  and  proceeded  up  the  coast  and  cast 
anchor  opposite  Otter  Island,  S.  C.  After  the  tide  receded  we  proceeded  to  un 
load.  We  found  a  desolate  place,  a  few  negroes,  but  no  buildings.  There  was  a 
dismantled  fort  on  the  Point  next  to  the  entrance  from  the  coast.  It  was  named 
"Fortl  Drayton."  It  was  a  lonesome  looking  place.  The  sloop  of  war  Dale  lay 
in  the  entrance  to  St.  Helena  Sound  to  guard  the  entrance  to  the  river.  Many 
transports  navigated  the  stream  up  and  down,  conveying  soldiers  and  supplies 
to  the  different  islands.  There  was  not  much  amusement  on  the  island.  Fishing 
for  crabs  and  hunting  coons  and  shells  took  our  time.  There  were  alligators  on 
the  island  and  we  left  a  few  young  alligators  in  a  barrel  sunk  in  the  sand.  The 
band  did  duty  on  these  islands  in  South  Carolina*,  for  several  months. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  1862,  the  band  arrived  at  James  Island  with  part  of  the 
regiment.  Here  we  had  quite  a  skirmish.  Captain  W.  W.  Williams,  of  the 
rebel  army,  was  killed  here  and  buried  within  our  lines.  After  camping  here 
some  time  we  were  ordered  to  march  aboard  the  transport  Ben  De  Ford,  on 
which  was  a  part  of  another  regiment,  and  started  down  the  river  in  sight  of 
Fort  Sumter,  arriving  at  Hilton  Head  in  the  evening.  Here  we  found  that 
the  Forty-seventh  Regiment  had  just  left  before  we  got  off  the  boat,  and  had 
gone  up  the  river  to  Beaufort,  S.  C. 


194     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

July  4th,  1862,  the  band  played  the  national  airs,  and  on  July  8th  took  a 
trip  up  the  river  to  Beaufort,  to  see  the  Forty-seventh  Regiment.  We  arrived! 
there  safely  and  were  entertained  by  the  Sunbury  boys  in  great  style. 

On  July  13th,  1862,  the  band  left  for  Elliot's  Plantation,  a  mile  or  two  above 
Hilton  Head,  and  went  into  camp,  in  sight  of  Hilton  Head.  A  rumor  was  circu 
lated  that  we  had  been  ordered  to  report  at  Hilton  Head,  and  take  transportation 
for  Fortress  Monroe,  Va.  We  started  at  once  and  went  aboard  the  mail  ship 
Arago  with  the  regiment.  There  were  also  a  number  of  other  soldiers  and 
officers,  also  some  ladies  and  children  aboard  the  ship.  During  the  voyage  the 
band  was  in  great  demand,  the  strangers  aboard  enjoying  their  music,  particularly 
the  music  adapted  for  dancing.  Captain  Gregg  and  other  officers  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  were  quite  liberal  with  the  champagne  they  furnished  the  band.  The  guests 
presented  the  band  with  twenty  dollars,  with  the  following  communication : 

"Presented  by  the  guests  of  the  steamer  Arago,  other  than  the  members  of 
the  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  who  appreciate  the  music 
of  the  Band  of  the  Regiment,  twenty  dollars.  Steamer  Arago,  July  19th;  1862, 
at  Sea.  (Signed)  D.  W.  SMITH, 

"in  behalf  of  the  Guests." 

I  have  preserved   the   original   of  the  above   communication. 

J.  C.  IRWIN. 

ON  BOARD  THE  STEAMER  "ARAGO/'  SUNDAY,  JULY  20TH,  1862. 

The  band  arose  early  this  morning ;  there  was  a  light  rain,  and  the  wind  was 
blowing  quite  brisk.  The  band  played  the  familiar  hymn,  "Old  Hundred."  The 
music  aroused  a  great  many  of  the  guests,  and  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
melodious  sounds  joined  in  unison  with  the  band,  and  the  harmony  produced 
brought  forth  many  tears.  The  band  also  joined  in  the  sacred  service  at  ten 
a.  m.,  conducted  by  an  Episcopal  minister.  A  lady  aboard  led  the  singing  in  the 
grand  and  solemn  service.  The  ship  arrived  at  Hampton  Road  in  the  morning 
and  received  orders  to  report  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  where  our  regiment  went 
into  camp  for  some  days,  and  met  the  Forty-eighth  Regiment. 

August  4th,  1862.  Marched  aboard  the  transport  Elm  City,  and  proceeded 
to  Fortress  Monroe,  thence  up  the  Potomac  River  and  landed  at  the  mouth 
of  Acquia  Creek.  Here  we  received  orders  to  go  aboard  the  cars,  and  after 
about  five  miles'  ride  arrived  at  Brookes  Station,  where  we  remained  for  some 
time,  guarding  the  railroad  to  Fredericksbuirg. 

August  13th,  1862.  To-day  five  of  the  band  were  reported  sick,  among  them 
T.  D.  Grant,  the  leader.  I  reported  the  fact  to  General  Welsh,  but  the  general 
gave  orders  that  the  band  must  play  for  dress  parade,  or  turn  in  our  horns  to 
the  quartermaster,  and  get  muskets  for  them.  The  band  came  to  the  con 
clusion  that  the  horns  were  worth  more  than  the  guns,  so  the  trade  was  off, 
and  when  the  time  came  the  band  was  ready  and  reported  for  duty,  and  played 
"Hail  Columbia"  five  times  during  dress  parade.  It  was  quite  amusing  and 
passed  off  as  a  joke  on  the  general;  but  he  never  said  a  word. 

We  had  rumors  to-day  stating  that  the  Rebel  General  Jackson,  was  within 
four  miles  of  Washington,  D.  C.  To-day  the  road  leading  from  Fredericksburg 
past  our  camp  at  Brookes  Station,  to  Acquia  Creek,  is  blockaded  with  artillery, 
wagons  and  soldiers,  all  on  a  rush  for  Washington,  by  way  of  the  Potomac  River. 


COMPANY  A 


George  W.  Emenhizer 


Sergt.  Theophilus  Lucas 


G.  W.  Emenhizer  and  Bro. 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  the  War  195 

September  3d,  1862.  Received  orders  to  strike  tents  and  get  aboard  the  cars 
for  Acquia  Creek,  to  take  transportation  for  Washington.  We  arrived  at  the 
creek  in  time  to  witness  the  great  fire  that  destroyed  the  warehouse  and  supplies. 
The  fire  was  a  grand  sight. 

September  7th,  1862.  Marched  aboard  the  transport  Niagara  for  Wash 
ington;  arrived  at  the  wharf,  left  the  boat  and  marched  through  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  and  some  eight  miles  out  of  the  city  and  went  into  camp.  Resumed  the 
march  into  Maryland,  and  passed  through  Frederick  City  in  pursuit  of  'General 
Jackson  and  the  rebel  army. 

September  14th,  1862.  Heavy  firing  was  heard  ahead.  We  soon  came  in 
sight  of  the  smoke  on  South  Mountain.  Our  brigade  was  ordered  up  the  moun 
tain  and  overtook  the  enemy  half  way  up,  when  a  general  engagement  took 
place.  Our  band  went  into  action  at  the  head  of  our  regiment,  the  Forty-fifth, 
playing  "Rally  Around  the  Flag,  Boys,"  and  continued  up  the  mountain  opposite 
the  corn  field  on  the  left.  At  that  point  the  band  was  ordered  out  of  the  line 
by  General  Reno,  who  was  killed  later  on.  The  fight  was  severe  and  the  loss 
heavy  on  both  sides.  The  rebels  retreated  toward  the  Potomac  River. 

September  17th,  1862.  The  Battle  of  Antietam  was  fought  on  Antietam 
Creek,  near  Sharpsburg,  Md.,  and  began  early  in  the  morning  and  continued 
until  evening.  The  battle  was  fought  with  great  determination.  During  the 
night  the  rebels  retreated,  leaving  thousands  of  dead  and  wounded  prisoners. 
The  band  was  on  duty  at  the  hospital,  rendering  good  service,  and  received  many 
compliments  from  General  Burnside  and  others  fotf  marching  up  the  hill  at  the 
head  of  the  regiment. 

On  September  29th  the  band  severed  its  connection  with  the  regiment  and 
prepared  to  leave  for  home.  We  walked  down  to  Sandy  Hook,  above  Harpers 
Ferry,  where  we  sold  one  of  our  horns  to  a  New  Hampshire  band(,  and  used  the 
proceeds  for  something  to  eat.  We  had  some  trouble  to  get  transportation  to> 
Baltimore,  where  we  were  paid  off.  After  all  our  trouble  in  getting  transportation 
it  was  secured  through  the  kindness  of  that  grand  old  soldier,  Major  General 
Burnside.  J.  C.  IRWIN. 

Sunbury,  Pa. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  WAR 

By  REV.  GEORGE  W.  EMINHIZER. 

On  August  7th,  1862,  at  the  age  of  19  years,  I  left  my  home,  situated  on  the 
banks  of  Marsh  Creek,  near  the  foot  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  in  Center 
County,  Pa. 

Full  of  ambition  and  feeling  very  proud  at  the  thought  of  being  a  soldier,  I 
started  for  Harrisburg,  arriving  there  the  morning  of  the  9th,  went  to  a  recruit 
ing  officer  and  enlisted  in  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Regiment.  On  September 
4th,  1862,  I  reported  to  Company  A,  at  Brookes  Station,  Va.  That  same  even 
ing  I  was  equipped  with  a  full  outfit,  consisting  of  haversack,  knapsack,  cartridge 
box  with  40  rounds  of  ammunition,  and  musket.  We  were  formed  in  a  line  and 


196     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


the  officer  in  charge  gave  the  order  to  load.  The  command  embarrassed  me  very 
much,  for  I  did  not  know  how.  I  turned  to  my  comrade  on  the  right  (F.  B. 
Williams)  and  said:  "Can  you  tell  me  which  end  of  this  cartridge  I  must  put 
in  first?"  He  loaded  the  gun  for  me.  That  night  we  lay  on  our  arms.  Next 
day  we  came  to  Acquia  Creek  Landing,  and  the  same  day  the  place  was  evacuated. 
Boarding  a  transport  we  arrived  at  Washington,  D.  C,  the  same  day.  Next  day 
we  were  on  the  march  to  meet  Lee's  army,  which  had  already  crossed  the  Potomac 
into  Maryland  and  was  moving  toward  South  Mountain. 

I  thought  of  the  many  stories  the  boys  told  me  of  their  experiences,  as  they 
had  been  in  the  service  a  year.  On  the  way  to  the  front  they  expressed  a  desire 
to  get  into  an  engagement.  Only  a  few  of  them  had  ever  been  under  fire.  I  said 
to  them,  "Do  you  know  what  some  of  the  people  in  Center  County  told  me  when 
I  left  home?  They  said  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  would  see  very  little  fighting, 
as  they  are  Curtin's  pets."  Just  then  some  of  the  boys  said  to  me,  "Do  you  see 
those  cards?"  The  road  was  strewn  with  them.  "That  means  breakers  ahead," 
and  it  did ;  for  in  less  than  one  hour  we  met  the  enemy  on  the  summit  of  South 
Mountain.  It  was  almost  a  hand-to-hand  conflict.  If  I  remember  correctly  ten 
of  our  company  were  killed  and  seventeen  wounded.  Three  days  later  we  met 
the  enemy  at  Antietam  in  one  of  the  hardest  fought  battles  of  the  war.  "Curtin's 
Pets"  were  there,  and  in  one  battle  after  another  until  the  bloody  strife  was 
ended  at  Appomattox,  April  9th,  1865. 

In  the  Fredericksburg  campaign  I  gave  out  one  day  and  my  brother  took  my 
knapsack,  in  addition  to  his  own,  and  carried  it  more  than  two  miles,  thus  pre 
venting  me  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  bushwhackers.  A  few  days  later 
we  went  into  camp  on  the  old  Chatham  plantation,  in  front  of  Fredericksburg, 
where  occurred  a  little  incident  somewhat  amusing.  Captain  Trout  of  Company 
C,  had  with  him  two  colored  boys  who  served  as  officers'  cooks.  These  boys 
caught  a  rabbit,  skinned  and  cleaned  it  very  nicely,  and  hung  it  on  a  little  cedar 
sapling  in  front  of  his  marquee  to  freeze.  Of  course  we  were  not  allowed  to 
steal,  but  when  the  captain  turned  his  face  toward  his  tent  I  just  "confiscated" 
that  rabbit,  and  my  brother,  two  other  messmates  and  myself  had  a  good  stew. 

Perhaps  you  will  remember  that  Company  B  had  a  fine  quartet  of  singers. 
I  can  not  name  them,  but  they  were  all  Germans.  They  composed  a  song  entitled, 
"Who  Stole  Captain  Trout's  Rabbit?"  and  when  they  saw  the  captain  two  of 
them  would  sing,  "Who  Stole  Captain  Trout's  Rabbit?"  and  the  others  would 
answer,  "George  Eminhizer  stole  it,"  etc. 

While  in  camp  the  pickets  on  both  sides  of  the  river  were  in  the  habit  of 
exchanging  papers.  On  one  occasion,  a  member  of  Company  B,  Forty-fifth,  and 
a  member  of  a  Connecticut  battery  were  on  picket  duty.  Lieutenant  Kline  had 
command  of  the  picket  line  at  that  time  and  the  men  asked  permission  to  go  in 
a  dug-out  which  they  had  found  to  exchange  papers  with  the  Confederate  picket. 
The  lieutenant  did  not  say  they  might  go,  neither  did  he  say  they  should  not. 
They  went,  however,  made  the  exchange,  and  on  their  return  the  dugout  upset 
and  both  men  were  drowned.  The  noble,  kindhearted  officer  got  into  trouble 
about  it  and  was  reduced.  In  a  few  months  he  returned  to  his  company  and 
was  reinstated  to  his  former  rank. 

The  next  day  after  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  we  recrossed  the  river.  Sev 
eral  of  the  boys  had  come  to  the  river  bank  and  the  Johnnies  had  come  on  the 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  the  War  197 

other  side  and  a  conversation  ensued  between  the  two  parties,  John  A.  Daley 
being  the  mouthpiece  on  our  side.  The  boasting  went  on  with  a  vim.  John 
asked  one  of  the  fellows  on  the  other  side  what  regiment  he  belonged  to.  He 
replied,  "The  Thirty-second  Mississippi."  Then  the  Johnny  in  turn  put  the  same 
question  to  us.  To  this  John  replied :  "I  belong  to  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania ; 
there  are  quite  a  number  of  regiments  here  from  Pennsylvania."  Placing  his 
hand  on  my  shoulder,  he  said :  "Here  is  a  man  who  belongs  to  the  Four  Hundred 
Forty-fifth."  The  Johnny  laughed  and  said:  "Put  the  bone  a  crack  higher." 

Later  on  General  Burnside  was  succeeded  by  fighting  Joe  Hooker,  and  Burn- 
side,  with  his  Ninth  Corps,  broke  camp  and  started  southwest.  We  sailed  up 
the  bay  to  Baltimore  and  then  took  cars  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  for  Parkers- 
burg,  thence  by  boat  to  Cincinnati,  where  we  arrived  in  due  time.  We  then 
crossed  the  river  to  Covington,  Ky.,  and  from  there  were  transported  by  rail  to 
Paris,  Ky.  As  soon  as  we  arrived  at  the  latter  place  Comrade  William  Peoples 
and  I  went  about  a  mile  to  a  farm  house  and  bought  20  dozen  of  eggs  for  a 
dollar  bill  in  Confederate  money.  That  was  the  only  money  we  had  at  the  time! 
The  lady  asked  me  if  the  bill  was  good.  I  told  her  it  was  sound  Confederate 
money.  She  took  it  and  let  us  have  the  eggs.  Five  cents  a  dozen  was  the  price 
then.  Four  hours  later  we  could  not  buy  a  dozen  of  eggs  for  less  than  five 
times  that  amount  in  greenbacks. 

While  in  Paris  we  received  four  months'  pay.  The  boys  were  talking  about 
how  they  would  send  their  money  home,  and  Ben  Musser,  company  cook,  made 
the  remark  that  he  would  take  his  money  home.  I  guess  he  did,  for  in  a  few 
days  he  was  missing.  His  home  was  at  Curtin's  Works,  Center  County,  Pa.  My 
father  saw  him,  but  Musser  did  not  stay  at  home,  and  to  this  day  no  one  knows 
what  became  of  him. 

At  Cairo,  111.,  we  embarked  on  board  the  steamer  Sallie  List.  In  a  few  days 
we  arrived  at  Memphis,  Tenn.  We  remained  at  this  place  a  few  hours  and  then 
proceeded  down  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  River,  landing 
at  Mill  Dale,  on  the  latter  river,  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg.  This  was  about  the 
17th  of  June,  1863.  We  remained  at  Snyders  Bluff  until  after  the  surrender  of 
Vicksburg,  July  4th.  Comrade  David  Hendershot  died  and  was  buried  there. 
We  left  camp  the  same  day  Vicksburg  fell  and  moved  across  the  Big  Black 
River,  where  we  had  a  fight  with  a  part  of  Joe  Johnston's  army,  July  6th.  Then 
we  pushed  on  toward  Jackson,  the  capitol  of  the  State,  marching^  through  miles 
of  cornfields  and  living  on  roasting  ears  and  mutton  principally.  We  reached 
Jackson  after  the  battle  at  Halls  Crossroads,  on  the  9th.  The  battle  of  Jackson 
lasted  from  the  10th  to  the  17th. 

While  on  guard  duty  at  the  asylum  during  the  battle  a  shell  from  the 
enemy's  lines  passed  through  the  building,  slightly  wounding  one  of  the  inmates. 
He  threw  it  out  of  the  window  of  his  room.  Fortunately  it  did  not  explode  and 
no  other  damage  was  sustained.  Forty-three  years  after,  on  my  return  from 
the  unveiling  of  the  Pennsylvania  monument  at  Vicksburg,  March  24th,  1906,  I 
stopped  at  Jackson,  and  visited  the  asylum.  Strange  to  say,  I  learned  from  one 
of  the  officials  that  the  same  man  was  still  an  inmate,  but  they  were  just  waiting 
for  him  to  die. 

After  the  seven  days'  siege  at  Jackson  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  played  its 
part  with  the  Ninth  Corps  in  destroying  about  forty  miles  of  railroad.  We  were 


198     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

returning  to  our  old  camping  ground  on  the  "Bluffs."  On  the  march  we  passed 
through  the  town  of  Brownsville,  Miss.  Some  of  the  comrades  went  into  a 
Masonic  Lodge  and  brought  out  some  high  plug  hats.  William  Mahaffey  and 
Ira  C.  Knoll  were  two  of  the  party.  These  hats  were  somewhat  expensive. 
They  were  marked  "$200."  The  night  before  that  happened  I  lost  my  cap.  Next 
day  when  the  scorching  sun  began  to  pour  its  rays  upon  my  bare  head  I  began 
to  complain.  Will  and  Ira  took  one  of  those  hats,  cut  some  holes  in  it  for  ven 
tilation,  and  placed  it  on  my  head.  The  captain  spied  the  hat  and  came  back  all 
in  a  fluster,  with  drawn  sword,  and  face  as  red  as  a  turkey  gobbler  in  August, 
ordering  me  to  take  if  off.  I  told  him  that  I  had  lost  my  cap  and  had  nothing 
else  to  wear.  Then  several  of  the  boys  spoke  up,  saying:  "George,  just  wear 
that  hat  until  you  find  your  cap  or  get  another  one."  And  I  did. 

A  few  days  later  we  reached  the  old  camping  ground.  A  very  short  time 
after  that  we  broke  camp  and  marched  back  to  the  Yazoo  River.  There  we 
boarded  a  steamer  and  proceeded  down  the  Yazoo  River  to  the  Mississippi  River 
and  thence  up  the  Mississippi,  landing  at  Cairo,  111.  There  were  four  regiments 
and  a  battery  on  the  vessel.  The  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  was  placed 
beside  us  on  the  top  deck. 

A  few  days  later  we  reached  Cincinnati,  crossed  the  river  into  Kentucky,  and 
soon  were  on  the  march  to  Crab  Orchard,  where  we  went  into  camp  and  re 
mained  there  about  ten  days,  when  orders  came  to  break  camp.  We  left  Crab 
Orchard  with  eight  days'  rations  in  our  haversacks  and  started  on  the  march  to 
East  Tennessee,  a  distance  of  more  than  180  miles  via  Cumberland  Gap.  After  a 
long  and  weary  march  we  finally  reached  Knoxville.  Remaining  there  a  few  days 
we  were  ordered  to  Bulls  Gap,  near  Blue  Springs,  where  we  met  the  foe  in  battle 
October  10th. 

Just  before  the  battle  I  took  some  canteens  and  went  in  search  of  water> 
passing  the  Third  East  Tennessee  Artillery.  I  spoke  to  two  boys — brothers — 
members  of  the  battery.  During  the  conversation  one  of  them  said  that  he 
would  like  to  see  his  mother.  I  replied  that  more  of  us  felt  that  way,  but  that 
it  was  wartime  and  the  less  we  thought  about  our  mothers  the  better  it  would 
be  for  us.  I  said :  "I  would  have  to  go  a  thousand  miles  to  see  my  mother." 
He  replied:  "I  would  not  have  to  go  two  miles."  "Well,"  I  said,  "that  alters 
the  case;  if  I  were  that  near  to  my  mother  I  would  certainly  see  her."  "Maybe 
not,"  he  answered.  "Our  family  is  equally  divided.  My  mother,  my  brother  here 
and  myself  are  for  the  Union,  and  my  father  and  two  brothers  are  on  the  other 
side,  and  we  may  meet  in  battle."  I  often  wonder  what  became  of  those  boys 
and  at  that  time  thought  of  the  words  of  Christ :  "Brother  against  brother,  father 
against  son,"  etc.,  a  literal  fulfillment  of  that  prophecy. 

I  was  wounded  in  the  battle  and  sent  back  to  Knoxville.  I  spent  three 
months  in  the  hospital,  and  thinking  that  I  had  been  there  long  enough 
I  asked  the  doctor  in  charge  to  give  me  a  discharge  from  the  hospital  and  let 
me  go  back  to  my  company.  He  gave  a  short  answer,  to  the  effect  that  he  would 
let  me  know  when  he  was  ready  to  send  me  to  my  regiment.  I  waited  a  week 
or  ten  days  longer  and  then  learned  that  the  regiment  was  only  eight  or  ten 
miles  across  the  country,  so  concluded  to  go  without  his  knowledge.  Some  four 
or  five  days  after  my  return  to  the  company,  the  officer  in  command,  Roland  C. 
Cheeseman,  came  and  questioned  me  in  reference  to  my  getting  away  from  the 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  the  War  199 

hospital,  and  said  that  I  was  marked  as  a  deserter  there,  but  he  would  make  it 
all  right.     I  never  heard  any  more  about  it. 

About  the  middle  of  January,  1864,  the  regiment  re-enlisted  and  shortly  after 
ward  started  on  its  long  march  back  across  the  mountains  into  Kentucky.  It  was 
a  cold,  arduous  march,  filled  with  hardships  because  of  the  long  distance  and  awful 
mountains.  It  was  almost  an  impossibility  to  get  the  necessary  supplies  to  the  army, 
but  without  any  complaining  we  pushed  on  until  we  reached  the  other  side  of 
Crab  Orchard  and  then  went  on  through  to  Cincinnati.  About  the  latter  part 
of  February  we  were  paid  off  and  received  our  30  days'  furlough.  With  glad 
hearts  we  returned  to  our  homes  and  with  rare  exceptions,  every  one  of  the  boys 
spent  30  of  the  happiest  days  of  his  life. 

At  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  6th,  1864,  at  the  time  the  engagement 
had  reached  its  crisis,  the  line  on  either  side  of  the  gallant  Forty-fifth  began  to 
break  and  waver.  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin  took  the  flag  and  carried  it  some  dis 
tance,  perhaps  50  steps  forward.  That  brave,  heroic  act  sent  a  wave  of  inspiration 
along  the  line. 

From  the  Wilderness  we  moved  on  to  Spottsylvania,  Po  River,  North  Anna 
River,  Totopotomoy  Creek,  Bethesda  Church,  and  Cold  Harbor.  George  Moore, 
my  messmate,  was  killed  by  a  sharpshooter  while  on  picket  duty  at  North  Anna 
River.  On  the  evening  of  June  3d  my  brother  was  wounded.  He  was  lying 
flat  on  the  ground  when  a  rebel  bullet  pierced  his  body.  He  was  not  more  than 
ten  feet  from  me.  I  talked  with  him  for  a  few  minutes  after  he  was  moved 
back  a  little.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation  he  gave  me  the  assurance  tHat 
if  he  died  at  that  time  all  would  be  well  with  him.  Just  then  the  firing  began 
to  rage  furiously,  and  he  said :  "George,  you  had  better  go  back  to  the  front 
to  your  place  and  be  sure  to  stand  by  the  old  flag."  He  was  sent  to  the  Emery 
Hospital  at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  died  there  June  llth,  1864.  I  visited  the 
spot  four  years  ago  where  his  body  rests  in  the  Arlington  cemetery. 

Other  comrades  will  no  doubt  write  about  the  assault  on  the  lines  in  front 
of  Petersburg  from  June  14th  to  17th,  1864.  I  was  there  with  my  comrades  and 
was  among  those  detailed  to  carry  the  powder  to  the  mouth  of  the  crater.  Four 
years  ago,  on  my  return  from  Vicksburg,  I  visited  the  crater  and  spent  almost  a 
day  and  a  night  in  Petersburg.  I  went  along  the  old  lines  for  about  a  mile.  Oh, 
what  memories !  How  the  scenes  of  42  years  ago  came  back  to  my  mind  like  a 
panorama !  How  vivid  and  real  were  the  many  incidents  which  occurred !  Some 
would  arouse  laughter ;  others  would  make  me  weep  like  a  child.  We  were  sta 
tioned  at  different  points  along  the  line  from  the  crater  to  our  left,  and  as  I 
looked  over  the  old  ground  it  seemed  as  if  these  things  occurred  the  day  before. 

I  want  to  mention  one  experience  that  took  place  at  midnight  in  front  of 
what  we  called  "Fort  Hell."  We  were  awakened  from  our  slumbers  while  in 
our  tent  behind  the  breastworks  by  the  thunder  of  the  cannon  from  the  fort. 
We  grabbed  our  guns  and  were  soon  in  line  behind  the  breastworks.  Most  of  us 
were  in  our  underclothing  with  our  overcoats  thrown  over  our  shoulders.  The 
Johnnies  had  the  range  down  fine.  One  of  their  guns  sent  a  ball  just  skipping 
over  the  top  of  the  pit  behind  which  we  were  placed.  We  all  stood  and  watched 
the  flash  of  their  guns  and  then  dropped  down  behind  the  pit  ahead  of  the  re 
port.  Comrade  Armstrong,  of  Company  B,  close  to  my  left,  would  not  dodge, 


2OO     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

and  laughed  at  the  rest  of  us  for  doing  so.  His  captain  told  him  to  dodge  or 
he  might  lose  his  head.  Sure  enough,  in  less  than  two  minutes,  a  ball  struck 
him  and  took  off  his  head. 

After  the  final  battle  of  Petersburg  and  the  evacuation  of  Richmond  we  were 
on  the  march  after  Robert  E.  Lee's  retreating  army.  For  a  few  days  we  en 
camped  at  a  place  called  Farmville,  where  our  regiment  was  at  the  time  of 
Lee's  surrender.  One  morning  a  colored  man,  a  slave  owned  by  an  old  planter 
by  the  name  of  McNaught,  was  sent  by  his  master  to  ask  for  a  safety  guard. 
After  the  boys  had  their  fun  with  him  and  we  were  on  our  way  to  the  plantation, 
I  said  to  him:  "Sam,  have  you  any  good  fresh  milk  cows  out  there?"  He 
laughed  heartily  and  answered:  "No,  sar;  dem  Yanks  am  de  debble;  dey  come 
out  dar  and  kill  all  de  cows  we  had  but  de  bull." 


SKETCH  OF  COMPANY  "C" 

By  JAMES  S.  MITCHELL. 

Having  been  requested  to  write  a  sketch  of  the  first  organization  of  Company 
C  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  I  will  say  that  I  must 
depend  upon  my  recollection  of  facts  as  I  knew  them  over  50  years  ago,  though 
I  was  not  a  member  of  the  company  until  it  entered  the  service  of  the  United 
States  under  the  first  call  for  volunteers  "for  three  years  or  during  the  war." 

I  was  a  student  in  Kishacoquillas  Seminary,  which  was  located  about  four  or 
five  miles  from  the  little  town  of  Belleville  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  Kishaco 
quillas  in  Miffiin  County,  Pa.  During  my  attendance  at  this  school,  about  three 
years  prior  to  1861,  there  was  organized,  in  Belleville,  a  company  known  as  "The 
Belleville  Fencibles,"  with  Dr.  William  G.  Bigelow  as  captain.  This  and  similar 
organizations  comprised  the  uniformed  militia  of  the  State.  This  company,  in 
the  Fall  of  1861,  was  recruited  to  number  about  90  men,  and  was  mustered  into 
the  service  of  the  United  States  to  serve  for  three  years  or  during  the  war.  The 
place  of  rendezvous  was  Camp  Curtin,  near  Harrisburg.  Among  the  ten  com 
panies  forming  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  this  one  was  known  as  Company  C.  Its 
first  officers  were:  Captain,  William  G.  Bigelow;  First  Lieutenant,  Jesse  W. 
Horton ;  Second  Lieutenant,  James  M.  Bulick ;  First  Sergeant,  Isaac  Steely,  and 
other  sergeants  and  corporals  as  were  required. 

Each  member  of  the  company  was  given  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament  and 
Psalms  of  David,  bound  in  one  volume  pocket  size.  I  was  informed  that  this  was  a 
gift  from  the  ladies  of  the  churches  at  Belleville  and  vicinity.  I  carried  the  copy 
given  to  me  from  1861  to  the  date  of  muster  out  of  service  in  July,  1865.  I  read 
it  through  more  than  once  during  the  war  and  prize  it  very  highly.  It  is  now 
in  the  possession  of  my  son,  James  G.  Mitchell,  of  Topeka,  Kan.,  who  served 
in  the  Twenty-second  Regiment  of  Kansas  Volunteer  Infantry  in  the  Spanish- 
American  war;  and  I  trust  he  will  be  blest  by  observing  the  precepts  contained 
therein. 

About  one-sixth  of  the  company  were  married  men.  Colonel  Thomas  Welsh 
commanded  the  regiment,  which  soon  went  to  Washington  and  encamped  near 
Bladensburg  on  the  ground  where  the  British  landed  to  burn  the  Capitol  in 


COMPANY   C 


Sergt.  Josiah  McManigal 
1861 


Sergt.  Josiah  McManigal 
1910 


First  Sergt.  J.  S.  Mitchell 


Corporal  J.  A.  Pressler 


Sketch  of  Company  C  201 


the  War  of  1812.  We  were  at  this  time  in  a  brigade  commanded  by  General 
O.  O.  Howard,  who  afterwards  became  a  famous  corps  commander  under 
General  Sherman.  Our  next  camp  was  in  Southern  Virginia  near  Fortress 
Monroe.  In  December,  1861,  we  were  sent  to  Port  Royal,  S.  C.,  on  the  steam 
ship  "Illinois,"  which  ran  on  a  sand  bar  late  in  the  evening,  about  ten  miles 
from  the  harbor  where  we  were  to  land.  There  was  quite  an  excitement  during 
the  time  the  vessel  stuck  fast.  Some  prayed,  some  left  the  upper  deck  and 
went  below  and  someone  in  Company  E  held  a  prayer  meeting  and  exhorted 
his  hearers,  while  others  watched  every  movement  of  the  sailors.  The  tidal 
waves  caused  the  vessel  to  careen,  and  watching  the  swaying  of  the  masts  it 
seemed  that  the  vessel  would  turn  over  and  spill  us  into  the  ocean.  After 
signaling  for  some  time  another  vessel  came  to  pull  us  off  the  bar,  and  as 
the  tide  was  rising  succeeded.  While  the  ship  was  stuck  fast  on  the  bar  the 
captain  of  the  tug  called  out  to  the  captain  of  the  "Illinois"  :  "How  much  water 
do  you  draw?"  He  answered,  "Eighteen  feet,  sir."  The  answer  bame  back  that 
there  was  twenty-five  feet  of  water  all  around  here.  The  ship  moved  into  deeper 
water  and  anchored  until  morning,  when  a  pilot  came ;  then  we  entered  the'  bay 
in  safety. 

The  Stars  and  Stripes  flying  over  Fort  Walker  was  to  us  a  glorious  sight. 
In  January,  1862,  Company  C  was  detached  from  the  regiment  and  sent  to 
Braddocks  Point  on  the  south  end  of  Eddings  Island,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Savannah  River.  Fort  Pulaski  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  still  in  the  pos 
session  of  the  enemy,  could  be  seen  from  our  camp.  One  day  a  corporal, 
whom  we  named  "Buscod,"  had  charge  of  a  squad  of  men  near  the  point 
where  Calibogue  Sound  connects  with  the  river.  A  vessel  named  the  "Cos 
mopolitan"  was  passing  on  its  way  to  Tybee  Island.  He  put  his  men  in  line 
with  guns  loaded  and  bayonets  fixed;  then  yelled  out  across  the  water, 
"H-a-l-t !"  The  vessel  kept  on  her  way.  He  made  several  remarks,  which  I 
do  not  now  remember  very  well,  then  yelled  out  again,  "Halt,  or  I  will  fire 
into  you."  But  the  vessel  was  beyond  the  reach  of  a  Springfield  rifle.  Some 
of  the  boys,  who  are  still  living,  will  remember  several  incidents  which  oc 
curred  during  the  few  months  we  were  encamped  at  this  place.  When  chickens 
and  other  things  were  lost  or  stolen  complaint  was  made  to  the  captain,  who, 
of  course,  could  not  find  the  guilty  parties  and  rather  than  have  the  complaint 
carried  any  farther  the  captain  generally  paid  the  bill  on  as  reasonable  terms 
as  he  could  get. 

Fort  Pulaski  surrendered  at  about  2  P.  M.,  on  April  llth,  1862.  Soon 
after  this  the  Forty-eighth  New  York  Regiment  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
fort.  Some  time  in  June  some  boxes,  shipped  from  New  York  City,  to  be  de 
livered  to  the  Forty-eighth  Regiment,  were  left  in  charge  of  our  guard  at  the 
landing  to  be  transferred  to  Dawfuski  Island  and  from  there  to  Fort  Pulaski, 
so  that  officers  of  the  Forty-eighth  could  have  a  good  time  on  the  Fourth  of 
July.  A  lieutenant,  a  sergeant  and  a  private  of  the  Forty-eighth  were  in 
charge  of  the  signal  station  at  our  camp.  I  recollect  that  the  name  of  the 
private  was  Tracy,  and  he  convinced  some  of  our  boys  that  the  signal  station 
here  had  an  interest  in  the  contents  of  these  boxes  and  would  not  get  their 
share  unless  they  got  it  now.  About  six  or  eight  of  our  company  went  with 
him  and  the  sergeant  and  made  a  raid  on  the  guards  that  had  charge  of  the 
goods  and  all  had  a  jolly  time.  The  guards  were  easy  now  and  a  second  raid 


2O2     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

captured  all  the  goods  and  the  celebration  commenced  right  away.  Any  of  my 
comrades  who  are  living  when  they  read  this  can  fill  in  the  particulars.  Our  cap 
tain  had  a  great  time  punishing  the  ones  who  got  too  full  or  who  made  trouble 
or  a  disturbance  in  camp  as  a  result  of  being  only  about  half  full.  Some  of 
the  bottles  had  been  hidden  in  the  bushes  and  were  found  two  weeks  later  and 
we  had  some  more  fun.  If  the  Forty-eighth  New  York  celebrated  any  in  the 
same  manner,  they  must  have  ordered  a  new  supply. 

In  July  the  companies  of  the  regiment  were  brought  together  again  at 
Hilton  Head,  where  on  the  18th  the  regiment  was  placed  on  board  the  steam 
ship  "Arago,"  which  landed  us  at  Newport  News,  Va.  Quite  a  number  of 
regiments  were  gathered  here  and  formed  what  was  afterwards  named  the 
Ninth  Corps,  under  the  command  of  Major  General  A.  E.  Burnside.  From  this 
time  to  the  close  of  the  war  each  of  the  companies  did  its  part  in  making  the 
history  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  In  the  long  and  :  tedious  marches^ 
skirmishes,  severe  battles,  and  starvation  and  sickness  incident  to  camp  life  in 
unhealthy  places,  the  boys  of  Company  C  were  participants,  along  with  their 
comrades  in  the  other  companies.  August  5th,  1862,  the  regiment  was  sent  to 
Acquia  Creek  Landing  on  the  Potomac  and  the  companies  were  distributed 
along  the  railroad  leading  to  Fredericksburg,  to  guard  the  same  while  a  por 
tion  of  McClellan's  army  was  being  sent  to  the  support  of  General  Pope.  About 
September  3d  to  5th  we  burned  the  railroad  bridges  and  the  cars  and  army 
supplies  at  Acquia  Creek  Landing  and  went  by  boat  to  Washington,  from 
which  place  the  different  army  corps  made  a  march  to  intercept  Lee's  army 
and  at  the  same  time  to  shield  Baltimore.  The  armies  met  and  the  battles  of 
South  Mountain  and  Antietam  marked  the  place.  On  the  list  of  killed  in  these 
battles  will  be  found  these  names  from  Company  C:  James  B.  Field,  James 
Baird,  Thomas  Parsons,  Robert  Kerr  and  Charles  B.  Goodman,  besides  Lieu 
tenant  J.  M.  Bulick  severely  \vounded  and  a  number  of  others  whose  names  I 
cannot  recall  at  this  time.  After  a  few  weeks'  rest  along  the  Potomac  and  a 
change  of  commanders  the  Union  Army  again  crossed  the  Potomac  and  ar 
rived  at  Falmouth,  Va.,  on  November  19th,  1862.  Here  the  army  was  formed 
in  three  grand  divisions  for  the  purpose  of  crossing  the  Rappahannock  River 
and  capturing  Fredericksburg.  The  Second  and  Ninth  Corps  formed  the  cen 
ter  grand  division.  This  division  forced  a  crossing  at  the  City  of  Fredericks 
burg  about  December  llth  or  12th.  The  pontoon  bridge  was  completed  after 
volunteers  crossed  the  river  in  boats  under  fire  and  drove  the  Rebel  guards 
from  the  wharf.  The  Union  Army  failed  in  this  attempt  as  well  as  the  one  in 
January,  1863,  when  the  roads  became  impassable  and  the  army  stuck  in  the 
mud.  As  I  was  sent  to  a  hospital  in  Washington  on  December  29th,  and  dis 
charged  for  disability  on  March  3rd,  1863,  I  was  out  of  service  till  August  19th, 
1863,  when  I  reenlisted  and  returned  to  Company  C  and  remained  with  it 
until  it  was  mustered  out  of  service  in  July,  1865.  During  the  time  of  my 
absence  the  Ninth  Corps  was  sent  west  under  the  command  of  General  Burn- 
side. 

The  Ninth  Corps  is  next  found  assisting  in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Miss., 
and  then  in  driving  the  army  of  Johnston  eastward  through  the  State  capitol 
in  July,  1863.  The  corps  then  returned  to  the  Ohio  valley,  and  entered  Ken 
tucky  ;  Burnside  with  the  Ninth  Corps  and  a  division  of  the  Twenty-third 


Sketch  of  Company  C  203 


Corps  entered  East  Tennessee,  capturing  Knoxville  and  Cumberland  Gap.  In 
the  Battle  of  Blue  Springs,  October  10th,  George  McMichaels  of  Company  C, 
was  killed. 

I  rejoined  the  company  at  Lenoir  Station  in  September,  1863.  About  this 
time  Parson  Brownlow  opened  up  his  printing  office  and  again  began  the  publi 
cation  of  the  Knoxville  "Whig,"  which  had  been  suppressed  for  two  years.  The 
first  issue  bore  the  title,  "The  Knoxville  Whig  and  Rebel  Ventilator."  Papers 
sold  as  high  as  25  cents  a  copy.  We  thought  the  regiment  would  remain  here 
for  a  while  and  we  built  comfortable  winter  quarters  but  occupied  them  only  a 
few  days.  Longstreet's  Corps  on  its  return  from  Chattanooga  to  rejoin  Lee's 
army  in  Virginia  drove  the  Union  forces  back  to  Knoxville  and  laid  siege  to 
the  place.  We  were  now  on  double  duty  and  less  than  half  rations. 

Some  days  during  the  siege  we  doubted  our  ability  to  defend  the  place  suc 
cessfully  against  an  attacking  force  which  largely  outnumbered  us.  Conversation 
of  this  kind  by  line  officers  and  their  soldiers  was  brought  to  a  sudden  termina 
tion  by  a  printed  order  from  General  Burnside,  which  was  read  to  each  com 
pany  along  the  line  of  breastworks.  It  prohibited  conversation  between  men 
and  officers  bearing  on  the  matter  of  surrender  and  contained  these  words: 
"Knoxville  will  not  be  taken  by  the  enemy  except  over  the  dead  bodies  of  its 
defenders."  This  fixed  the  determination  to  do  or  die.  Night  after  night  was 
spent  in  strengthening  the  fortifications,  placing  of  abattis  and  stretching  of 
telegraph  wire  in  front  of  the  outer  line  of  works.  The  attack  on  Fort  Sanders 
soon  revealed  to  us  the  wisdom  in  all  this  preparation. 

Survivors  who  read  this  account  will  remember  that  rations  were  very 
slim.  One  day  Sergeant  Young,  who  generally  drew  rations  for  Company  C, 
returned  to  us  near  noon  with  one  ear  of  corn  for  each  man;  I  noticed  tears 
in  his  eyes  when  he  said,  "Boys,  this  is  the  best  I  could  get." 

A  few  days  after  the  defeat  of  the  enemy  at  Fort  Sanders,  a  relief  force 
came  from  Sherman's  army  and  the  siege  of  Knoxville  was  raised;  then  came 
the  pursuit  up  the  Rutledge  Valley  and  shortly  after,  the  night  march  back  to 
Blains  Cross  Roads,  where  the  regiment  reenlisted  for  three  years  more.  Com 
rades  will  remember  how  nearly  naked  many  of  us  were;  very  few  had  more 
than  one  shirt  and  that  not  comfortable  to  wear  because  of  graybacks.  Notwith 
standing  all  this  we  had  lots  of  fun  on  our  march  from  East  Tennessee  through 
the  towns  which  lay  on  the  route  till  we  reached  Nicholasville,  Ky.,  where  we 
could  take  cars  for  Cincinnati.  I  would  like  to  mention  many  incidents  occur 
ring  on  this  march  but  have  not  room  in  this  article.  The  night  before  we 
reached  Nicholasville,  we  received  a  supply  o'f  new  clothing  being  a  complete 
outfit  for  each  man.  We  felt  like  new  men  the  next  morning  after  the  night 
bath  with  soap  and  water  and  leaving  every  bit  of  the  old  habilaments  with  their 
unwelcome  occupants  alongside  the  little  stream,  \vhile  we  were  clad  anew  from 
head  to  foot  in  Uncle  Sam's  best.  We  stayed  in  Cincinnati  a  few  days  then 
took  the  train  for  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  where  we  were  furnished  with  a  splendid  sup 
per.  We  soon  reached  home  and  had  about  forty  days  in  Grand  Old  Penn 
sylvania. 

While  we  were  enjoying  our  visit  at  home,  U.  S.  Grant  had  been  placed  in 
chief  command  of  the  Union  Armies  with  headquarters  in  the  field,  and  our 
corps— the  Ninth— had  been  attached  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  When  the 


204     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Forty-fifth  Regiment  returned  to  its  place  in  the  First  Brigade,  Second  Division. 
Company  C  was  also  in  its  accustomed  place  in  the  regimental  line  and  from 
the  crossing  of  the  Rapidan  in  the  first  week  in  May,  1864,  to  the  surrender  of 
Lee's  Army  at  Appomattox  in  April,  1865,  shared  in  the  hardships  and  braved 
the  dangers  of  the  most  destructive  campaign  of  the  Civil  War. 

The  following  is  an  additional  list  of  those  killed  in  battle  belonging  to 
Company  C : 

Battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  6th,  1864,  Corporals  John  Bice  and  Foster 
Hazlett;  and  Privates  J.  M.  Caldwell  and  Jackson  H.  Price. 

Cold  Harbor,  June  1st  to  3rd,  1864,  William  Rose,  N.  L.  Weiser,  John  Mc- 
Fadden,  David  K.  Zook  and  John  B.  McElroy. 

Siege  of  Petersburg,  Jacob  Ham,  Lieutenant  J.  P.  Gibboney,  John  W. 
Bailey,  Ludwig  Bremer. 

Poplar  Spring  Church,  Andrew  Gregg,  Thomas  B.  Scott,  William  Phillips; 

There  may  have  been  others  but  these  names  are  remembered  and  I  place 
them  on  the  Roll  of  Honor.  To  this  list  should  be  added  a  few  of  the  com 
pany  who  died  in  Rebel  prisons.  Then  comes  the  list  of  those  who  died  from 
wounds  and  disease;  then  those  who  are  crippled  for  life. 

The  Grand  Review  at  Washington  in  1865  marked  the  close  of  the  period 
of  destruction;  and  surviving  comrades  of  both  contending  armies  bade  each 
other  good-bye  and  returned  to  civil  life  to  begin  the  work  of  reconstruction  and 
to  teach  loyalty  and  inspire  a  love  and  veneration  for  our  victorious  banner  and 
the  principle  which  it  represents. 

Our  children  grew  to  manhood  and  in  1898,  the  sons  of  Union  and  Con 
federate  fathers  rushed  to  the  front  and  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and 
marched  and  fought  side  by  side  until  Old  Glory  was  again  triumphant  and 
our  nation  became  a  mighty  world  power. 

Comrades,  we  are  still  enjoying  the  fruits  of  the  victory  of  right  against 
wrong,  and  in  our  declining  years  can  feel  confident  that  our  teaching  of  loy 
alty  and  patriotism  both  by  example  and  precept  has  not  been  in  vain. 

May  the  Star  Spangled  Banner  always  wave  o'er  the  land  of  the  free  and 
the  home  of  the  brave. 

MEMORANDA  FROM  DIARY  OF  CAPTAIN  JOHN  O. 
CAMPBELL  OF  COMPANY  E 

MRS.  J.  M.  ADAIR. 

September  2d,  1861.     Left  The  Pines,  Baileyville,  Center  County,  Pa. 
September  3d,  10  A.  M.     Arrived  at  Harrisburg. 
October  21st.     Left  Camp  Curtin. 

INCIDENTS  AT  CAMP  CURTIN. 

Two  days  after  our  arrival  Captain  Stevens  went  home  for  recruits.  Before 
he  left  we  had  decided  to  enter  Colonel  Welsh's  regiment.  Welsh  is  a  most  fin 
ished  gentleman.  Beaver,  his  lieutenant-colonel. 

Captain  Tarburton  takes  all  officers,  who  are  willing,  to  a  field  out  of  sight 
and  gives  practical  drills  four  hours  each  day. 


Memoranda  From  Diary  205 

MARYLAND. 

October  22d  to  November  19th.  Camp  Hale,  Bladensburg,  five  miles  %ast  of 
Washington,  D.  C.  Sent  on  a  seven  days'  tramp  of  160  miles  to  Calvert 
County,  Md.,  to  guard  the  polls.  Says  Captain  Fessler  of  this  march:  "The 
officers,  after  a  hard  day's  march,  had  to  scour  the  country  for  miles  to  get 
even  a  water-baked  Johnny  cake  and  this  invariably  from  the  negro."  Camp 
Casey,  three  miles  from  Washington,  a  few  days. 

November  2d.     Regiment  arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Camp  Hamilton. 

INCIDENTS. 

Left  Washington  at  midnight,  November  19th.  Ours  being  an  extra  train 
we  had  to  lie  over  a  couple  of  hours  every  few  miles.  Embarked  on  the  "Poca- 
hontas"  for  180  miles.  Adjutant  T.  Gregg,  who  had  for  years  traded  on  the 
river,  told  many  pleasing  incidents.  Fine  camping  grounds.  Five  of  our  boys 
are  sick.  Corporal  McWilliams  and  I  have  been  busy  for  several  days  posting 
books.  Here  comes  paymaster.  All  glad. 

December  6th,  1861,  at  3  P.  M.  Forty-fifth  steamed  off  from  Fortress  Mon 
roe  for  Port  Royal,  S.  C.  Says  Captain  Fessler:  "Six  inches  snow  when  we 
left  Fortress  Monroe.  Three  days  later  we  landed  at  Hilton  Head  and  found 
flowers  in  bloom — orange  trees  loaded  with  fruit." 

Colonel  Beaver  with  five  companies  are  detailed  to  occupy  Fort  Seward,  on 
Bay  Point,  Hilton  Head  Island.  He  has  the  three  captains,  Curtin,  Biglow,  Hill 
and  myself  (Lieutenant  Campbell).  Hill  and  I  were  shifted  from  the  "Cosmo 
politan"  to  the  "Delaware"  last  evening  (December  9th),  drifted  down  the  bay 
alongside  the  "Illinois"  and  took  on  board  Companies  A,  C  and  D.  Are  now 
moving  off  amidst  the  cheers  of  Zouaves  on  the  "Illinois."  They  lay  beside  us 
at  Camp  Hamilton. 

December  24th.  Company  E  has  been  sent  to  St.  Helena  Island  to  guard 
United  States  cotton  agent,  Colonel  Noble,  who  is  collecting  cotton  to  send  to 
New  York.  These  isles  are  rich  in  cotton,  sweet  potatoes  and  negroes.  There 
is  one  isle  between  us  and  the  main.  The  company  is  divided  into  seven  squads. 
Extremes  twenty  miles  apart.  My  headquarters,  Dr.  Jenkins'  plantation.  Ed. 
Salisbury,  Colonel  Nobles'  clerk,  and  I  mess  together. 

January  6th,  1862.  To-day  went  to  Bay  Point  to  hand  in  weekly  report. 
Colonel  Beaver  not  there.  Met  some  boys  of  Company  D,  who  had  been  left 
behind  to  bury  a  dead  comrade.  They  said  Beaver  had  yesterday  received  orders 
to  go  to  Skull  Creek  with  his  whole  command.  We  had  received  no  word. 

January  8th.  Visited  Colonel  Beaver.  Received  orders  to  gather  our  men 
and  be  ready  to  embark  at  any  moment  for  Skull  Creek. 

SKULL  CREEK,  SPANISH  WELL'S  PLANTATION. 

Spent  six  months  here,  extreme  south  point  Hilton  Head  Island.  Are  on 
picket  duty.  Have  two  stations,  one  at  the  landing  in  front  of  our  quarters,  the 
other  on  Calibogue  Sound,  three  miles  distant.  Have  three  men  at  one,  four  at 
the  other.  A  commissioned  officer  visits  the  pickets  between  ten  and  twelve  each 
night.  Northern  friends  wonder  how  we  spend  time.  We  are  under  orders  to 
drill  four  hours  daily;  then  come  daily  orders  from  headquarters  to  be  acted  on 


206     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

forthwith.  Routine  of  sending  out  pickets,  foraging  for  beef,  etc.  Then  per 
fection  in  tactics  requires  continual  study.  Keeping  affairs  of  company  abreast 
of  demands  fills  every  moment. 

February  7th.  As  I  was  writing,  an  order  was  handed  me  to  go  to  the  main 
under  cover  of  night,  with  picked  men  to  learn  the  strength  of  a  Rebel  picket 
in  the  rear  of  Bluffton.  Fifteen  men,  including  Beck,  myself  and  "Steve,"  coU 
ored  guide,  pulled  off  an  hour  after  dark  with  muffled  oars,  rowed  about  six 
miles,  landed  one-half  mile  beyond  picket.  "Steve"  led  us  across  a  cotton  field 
to  the  rear.  We  crept  up  cautiously  to  the  buildings,  then  into  them,  but  could 
not  raise  a  Rebel.  By  moonlight  W7e  examined  the  premises  and  found  evidences 
of  horsemen  having  been  there.  When  we  reached  Spanish  Well's  at  11  P.  M., 
found  Major  Killbourne,  Captain  Curtin  and  fifty  men  who  had  intended  to  go 
with  us  but  were  too  late. 

March  24.  "Oriental"  yesterday  brought  Corporal  Dick  Bailey  and  four  re 
cruits,  Deters,  Ewing,  Road  and  Alley.  Am  now  drilling  these  fine  new  boys. 
Same  day  was  ordered  to  throw  out  a  strong  picket  to  catch  two  spies.  Eighty- 
three  men  were  patroling  the  beach.  A  boat  is  on  the  water.  No  spies  seen 
yet.  Left  Port  Royal  July  18th,  1862. 

VIRGINIA. 

July  18th,  1882.  Came  from  Hilton  Head  on  the  "Arago."  All  seasick  dur 
ing  the  two  and  one-half  days'  voyage.  I  ate  but  one  meal  on  the  water.  At 
Fort  Monroe,  Colonel  Welsh  was  ordered  to  report  to  Burnside  at  Newport 
News.  Are  now  two  miles  up  the  James.  Lay  out  last  night.  Several  Pennsyl 
vania  regiments  here. 

July  28th.     Still  at  Newport  News. 

August  1st.  "Father  is  dead  and  you  want  me  to  come  home  on  furlough. 
Simply  impossible.  Since  coming  here  six  officers  of  this  regiment  have  resigned." 

ACQUIA  CREEK,  VA. 

Left  Newport  News  yesterday,  August  4th.  Troops  in  fine  condition.  We 
are  guarding  the  railroad.  Left  four,  including  Beck,  in  hospital  at  Newport 
News. 

BROOKES  STATION. 

August  12th.  The  valleys  here  are  mere  cracks  between  little  hills  shocked 
up  laughably.  Innumerable  women  and  children  stuffed  into  the  cracks. 

August  14th.  Dr.  Gibson  arrived  last  night.  Says  the  hospital  boat  from 
Fort  Monroe  collided  with  another  last  night  going  down  with  over  100  sick. 
Hope  our  boys  were  not  among  them.  Ague  chills  are  shaking  us  here. 

HAREWOOD  HOSPITAL,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

September  9th.  The  orderly  and  I  were  left  here  as  the  regiment  passed  on 
to  Maryland.  He  has  dysentery,  I  fever— the  dregs  of  ague. 

September  15th.  We  are  now  able  to  walk  some.  Yesterday  heard  Mr.  John 
B.  Meek  preach  on  the  grounds. 


Memoranda  From  Diary  207 

MARYLAND. 

September  22d  to  October  16th,  1862. 

September  22d.  Haynes  and  I  came  up  with  the  regiment  yesterday  at 
Sharpsburg;  walked  from  Frederick  to  Middletown.  It  was  full  of  wounded. 
Lightner,  Johnny  Chronister  and  Ulrich  were  shot  through  the  lungs,  and  Cor 
poral  Schall  in  shoulder.  I  wrote  letters  and  did  what  I  could  for  the  poor 
fellows,  then  passed  over  battlefield  of  14th.  The  Forty-fifth  had  occupied  a  field 
covered  with  small  lots  surrounded  by  stone  fence  behind  which  the  enemy 
fought.  All  along  the  lines  the  ground  was  covered  with  clotted  blood.  Saw 
where  the  28  dead  of  the  Forty-fifth  were  nicely  buried. 

PLEASANT  VALLEY. 

October  8th.  Our  division  (Wilcox's)  left  Antietam  yesterday.  We  crossed 
a  high  ridge  and  are  now  two  miles  below  Harpers  Ferry.  Lieutenant  Beck  has 
gone  home  for  20  days  on  sick  leave.  Since  leaving  the  hospital  unsuitable  food 
has  caused  indigestion  and  diarrhoea.  I  am  in  a  bad  shape  to  be  busy  making 
out  papers  for  killed,  wounded  and  other  absentees. 

PoiNT-OF-RocKS,  TWELVE  MILES  BELOW  HARPERS  FERRY 

October  14th.  As  we  lay  in  camp  near  Harpers  Ferry  last  evening  we  were 
ordered  to  march  in  15  minutes.  Camp  equipage  and  all  personal  effects  were 
left  scattered  around,  the  infirm  to  guard  them.  Stuart's  cavalry  having  dashed 
into  Pennsylvania,  there  were  fears  they  would  burn  Frederick,  Md.,  a  Union 
city  of  some  eight  thousand  population.  We  reached  Frederick  about  midnight, 
guarded  the  approaches  and  lay  down  about  one  o'clock  to  freeze  till  morning; 
when  we  found  the  citizens  much  surprised  at  their  town  being  so  well  guarded 
when  they  had  not  dreamed  of  danger.  At  sundown  we  were  loaded  on  cars, 
run  back  to  Point-of-Rocks,  marched  out  two  miles  on  picket.  At  eleven  lay 
down  in  a  thick  wood  while  it  rained  hard  on  us  till  daybreak. 

Captain  Fessler  writes  of  his  effort  to  head  Stuart:  "Part  of  the  way  we 
were  on  forced  march.  Night  overtook  us  in  a  dense  forest.  Rain  fell  in  tor 
rents.  It  was  decided  to  bivouac  till  morning.  We  laid  overcoats  on  the  ground, 
lay  down  on  them,  but  soon  were  numb  and  cold  in  pools  of  water." 

VIRGINIA. 

October  23d,  1862,  to  March  llth,  1863. 

Old  Virginia,  October  29th.  Last  Sabbath  morn  our  brigade  left  camp. 
Marched  down  river  about  six  miles  to  Berlin,  crossed  into  Virginia  on  pontoon 
bridge.  Marched  three  miles  on  Leesburg  pike,  and  encamped.  Lieutenant  Beck 
came  up  with  us  at  Berlin.  At  this  date  Beck  writes :  "At  Berlin  I  found  Cap 
tain  Campbell  in  a  tent  with  Captains  Gregg  and  Richards,  Lieutenant  Haynes 
and  Scudder  and  Quartermaster  McClure.  Rain  poured  in  torrents,  night  pitchy 
dark,  blowing  furiously.  Ropes  gave  way,  pins  drew  out.  Captain  Campbell 
sprang  to  his  feet,  grasped  the  center  pole,  at  top  of  voice  cried,  'Fasten  the  cor 
ner  pins,'  but  in  the  darkness  neither  corners  nor  pins  could  be  found." 

November  8th,  1862,  near  Warrenton,  Va.  Still  moving  south.  Last  three 
days  passed  through  poor  country.  Have  two  inches  of  snow.  Sabbath,  Rev. 
Brown,  chaplain,  100th  Psalm,  2  v.,  preached.  He  read  an  order  from  General 


208     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Wilcox  calling  upon  regimental  commanders  to  have  special  prayers  offered  dur 
ing  the  day  for  the  continued  success  of  General  Burnside  and  his  officers,  this 
to  be  carried  out  whether  on  the  march  or  in  camp. 

Camp  Tribulation,  November  12th.  Very  short  rations.  Some  eat  parched 
corn,  others  insist  on  grumbling.  Fessler  writes  of  this  period :  "Late  in  Oc 
tober  we  were  ordered  from  Pleasant  Valley,  Md.,  to  cross  Potomac  to  force 
General  Lee  to  give  battle,  or  fall  back  beyond  the  Rapidan.  Food  scarce.  Near 
Warrenton,  Va.,  our  camp  was  called  'Camp  Starvation.'  Dr.  Christ  writes,  'Our 
troops  suffered  much  from  short  rations.'  " 

FREDERICKSBURG,  VA. 

November  19th.  Have  made  the  circuit  and  arrived  about  where  we  were 
ten  weeks  since.  One  night  at  White  Sulphur  Springs,  a  branch  of  Rappa- 
hannock,  then  after  ten-mile  march  stopped  on  line  of  Orange  &  Alexandria 
Railroad.  The  last  three  days  all  spent  marching.  The  Rappahannock  is  now 
between  us  and  the  city  of  Fredericksburg.  City  occupied  by  Rebels.  Lee's  army 
here. 

From  notes  at  this  time  from  Captains  Campbell,  Beck  and  Fessler  we 
learn  that  on  December  12th  the  Forty-fifth  was  marched  across  the  Rappa 
hannock  on  pontoons  and  posted  near  Fredericksburg.  During  the  four  days' 
engagement  the  regiment  was  vigorously  shelled  from  a  Rebel  fort,  but  made 
no  attack.  In  the  night  was  placed  in  front  the  Rebel  fort  for  a  charge  at  day 
break,  but  orders  for  retreat  came  and  this  was  silently  effected  during  the 
night  over  the  bridge  covered  with  clay. 

Under  different  dates  from  November  25th,  1862,  to  February  15th,  1863, 
Captain  Campbell  writes  from  Falmouth,  Va. : 

"Comfortable  in  winter  quarters,  though  to  stand  erect  in  their  huts  'they 
must  arrange  in  line  of  battle  in  the  center.'  Delightful  visitors  from  the  One 
Hundred  and  Forty-eighth  lying  near,  also  from  old  homes.  Gratitude  for  dried 
fruits  sent  from  homes.  Sudden  changes  from  bitter  cold  to  bitter  warm  same 
day.  Restlessness  of  troops  because  of  inactivity,  though  history  shows  that 
the  greatest  part  of  any  army's  time  is  spent  in  camp. 

February  15th,  1863.  On  the  evening  of  the  10th  the  Forty-fifth  embarked 
on  "John  A.  Warner."  Left  dock  at  five  next  morn  and  moved  slowly  down 
the  Potomac.  Our  nautical  encyclopedia,  Captain  Gregg,  gives  all  necessary  in 
formation  concerning  dangerous  places.  He  is  a  good  book  of  reference. 

Newport  News,  March  1st.  Troops  in  fine  spirits.  The  change  from  Fred 
ericksburg  to  this  place  would  revive  the  most  desponding.  Busy  drilling. 
Brigade  drilling  has  been  introduced. 

KENTUCKY. 

March  llth,  1863  to  June  llth.  Left  Newport  News  March  22d  on  board 
"Mary  Washington."  Reached  Baltimore  same  night.  On  the  23d  in  cars 
moving  toward  Relay  House.  On  the  24th  in  mud  at  Harpers  Ferry,  each  man 
scrambling  for  his  bread  and  coffee,  on  through  Martinsburg;  at  Piedmont, 
supper  by  candlelight.  Breakfasted  next  morn  at  Grafton,  W.  Va.  At  Parkers- 
burg  on  the  Ohio  went  aboard  the  "La  Crosse." 


Memoranda  From  Diary  209 

Paris,  Ky.,  March  30th.  Are  now  in  a  low  green  valley  on  the  old  Ken 
tucky  shore.  Magnificent  is  the  only  word  to  describe  the  country.  Our  Lan 
caster  County  men  are  silent  seeing  how  far  this  land  surpasses  their  own  in 
beauty  and  in  fertility.  With  the  Twenty-ninth  Massachusetts  we  are  protect 
ing  the  town  and  extensive  bridges.  Loyalty  predominates  but  there  are  some 
excessively  bitter  Rebels — principally  among  the  gentler  sex.  Senator  Davis 
lives  here.  He  wants  the  leading  Rebs  shot  and  rabid  women  sent  to  military 
prison. 

April  15th,  1863.  Camp  Dick  Robinson,  nine  miles  from  Danville,  Ky.  Our 
brigade  is  here.  General  Welsh  in  command  of  division  which  is  scattered 
over  the  county.  Came  on  railroad  to  Nicholasville ;  marched  remaining  15 
miles  through  awful  dust.  At  close  of  dress  parade  McClure  in  a  neat  speech 
presented  Colonel  Curtin  with  a  fine  bay  horse  bought  by  the  regiment.  Utterly 
confounded  the  Colonel  began,  "Gentlemen,  I — Gentlemen,  I — "  when  three 
loud  cheers  relieved  him.  April  26th.  Oh!  that  we  could  move  on  and  relieve 
East  Tennessee,  whose  citizens  are  being  driven  out  by  hundreds.  More  than 
half  a  regiment  of  refugees  are  in  this  single  camp.  They  report  absolute  starva 
tion  in  many  parts. 

Middleburg,  Casey  •  County,  Ky.,  May  8th.  We  don't  seem  to  be  doing 
much,  yet  we  are  keeping  the  Rebs  out  of  Kentucky  after  having  driven  them 
out.  We  frequently  hurry  up  and  off  to  meet  Morgan  but  have  not  yet  met 
him. 

June  10th.  For  the  last  month  have  been  constantly  marching  and  scout 
ing,  resting  only  a  day  at  a  time.  Often  jump  up  and  prepare  to  fight  Rebs 
before  breakfast,  but  after  a  hard  day's  scouting  have  nothing  for  our  pains. 
Starting  from  Jamestown,  near  Cumberland  River,  we  marched  over  60  miles 
in  51  hours.  Reached  Lebanon  and  took  the  cars  for  Louisville  65  miles  dis 
tant.  The  Ninth  Corps  has  been  sent  to  Grant  at  Vicksburg,  Miss.  I  am  glad 
to  leave  Kentucky.  Her  neutrality  has  poisoned  her  patriotism.  Few  uncondi 
tional  Union  men  to  be  found  here. 

ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI  ON  BOARD  "SALLIE  LIST." 

June  llth.  We  are  bound  for  Vicksburg.  At  Louisville  were  served  with 
hot  coffee,  ham  and  bread.  After  many  car  changes  reached  Cairo,  the  junc 
tion  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  at  11  P.  M.,  on  the  9th.  Met  with 
a  royal  reception  through  Indiana  and  Illinois.  The  best  the  land  could  afford 
was  pressed  upon  us.  Reaching  one  village  at  midnight,  the  boys  asleep,  ladies 
surrounded  the  train  crying,  "Wake  up,  soldiers,  and  take  our  provisions." 
The  whole  brigade  was  on  board,  yet  no  lack  of  good  things.  At  Cairo  lay 
on  the  street  under  showers  till  morning.  At  daylight  the  Forty-fifth  embarked 
on  the  "Sallie  List."  Left  Cairo,  that  mud-hole  of  creation,  at  5  P.  M.  Am 
disappointed  in  the  "Father-of-Waters."  It  is  crooked,  muddy  and  dismal 
compared  with  the  beautiful  James.  Passed  Island  No.  10  at  daybreak.  At  4 
P.  M.,  have  just  passed  Fort  Pillow. 

Tanny's  Point,  June  19th.  Reached  this  place  at  9  this  morning.  Vicks 
burg  is  five  miles  from  us  in  a  direct  line. 

July  6th.  We  are  lying  in  the  woods  in  sight  of  the  Big  Black  almost 
opposite  Haines  Bluff.  Have  not  written  since  landing.  Our  work  has  been 


210     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

too  hard.     Felling  trees  and  entrenching  in  this  hot  climate  is  not  play.     The 
reinforcements  have  all  been  employed  entrenching  against  Johnston. 

MISSISSIPPI. 

July  15th,  1863.  I  scarcely  know  how  to  commence  this.  We  have  no 
camp,  no  shelter,  no  bedding.  Soon  as  Vicksburg  fell  we  left  our  entrench 
ments  and  went  in  pursuit  of  Johnston.  Crossed  Big  Black  on  7th,  moving 
toward  Jackson,  the  enemy  retreating  before  us.  Friday,  10th,  at  3  P.  M.,  the, 
Forty-fifth  was  thrown  forward  to  skirmish  for  the  brigade.  Moved  'directly 
toward  Pearl  River.  At  dark  we  were  facing  the  city  on  the  north  side.  At 
night  rested  at  lunatic  asylum  on  the  top  of  which  the  flag  of  the  Forty-fifth 
took  the  place  of  a  Rebel  flag.  Saturday  morning  advanced  driving  the  enemy 
before  us.  Within  one-half  mile  of  town  planted  batteries.  Musketry  firing 
briskly  all  day;  four  killed,  one  dozen  wounded.  Lieutenant  Humphrey,  Com 
pany  F,  was  killed.  At  4  P.  M.  our  division  was  relieved  and  sent  to  the 
rear  to  rest.  Tuesday,  14th,  again  sent  to  front  to  remain  48  hours.  Just  as 
I  wrote  the  last  line  a  ball  from  the  enemy  struck  a  sapling,  glanced  off  and 
hit  Homer  Thompson  on  the  jaw. 

From  further  letters  from  Captains  Campbell,  Fessler  and  Beck  we  learn 
that  Johnston  slipped  out  of  Jackson  the  night  of  the  16th  of  July  by  cross 
ing  Pearl  River.  After  capturing  200  or  more  prisoners  and  tearing  up  20 
miles  of  railroad,  on  the  20th  the  Ninth  Corps  began  the  retrograde  movement* 
Heat  oppressive.  Many  lay  down  by  the  roadside  and  died.  Grant  ordered 
Vicksburg  and  Jackson  to  be  inscribed  on  the  banners  of  the  Forty-fifth. 

August  10th,  1863,  9  A.  M.  Our  regiment  has  just  reached  Cairo  on 
board  the  "Hiawatha."  The  Mississippi  campaign  is  ended. 

KENTUCKY. 

Camp  Nelson,  near  Nicholasville,  August  22d,  1863.  The  Kentucky  troops 
are  moving  toward  East  Tennessee.  Our  Corps  will  have  to  recruit  in  health 
before  moving.  Chills  and  fever  abound.  We  are  favorably  situated.  Good 
water.  Are  abundantly  supplied  with  vegetables  by  the  citizens.  General  Welsh 
died  suddenly  some  weeks  since.  Captain  Hicks,  his  adjutant,  now  commands 
the  division. 

CRAB  ORCHARD. 

September  3d.  We  halted  here  after  a  march  of  30  miles  on  the  27th  ult. 
Troops  in  much  better  health. 

September  13th,  near  London,  Ky.  We  are  moving  toward  Knoxville,  via 
Cumberland  Gap.  Left  Crab  Orchard,  the  10th.  Our  first  day  we  marched 
through  country  whose  springs  were  most  unpleasant  with  sulphur.  Second  day 
crossed  a  mountain  and  forded  a  branch  of  the  Cumberland  called  Rock  Castle 
River.  Third  crossed  a  barren  tableland.  Are  over  100  miles  from  Knoxville. 
All  the  boys  with  us  are  in  good  health.  Left  some  sick  at  Crab  Orchard. 

SHORT  FURLOUGH. 

While  the  Forty-fifth  was  near  the  line  between  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
a  detail  from  each  regiment  was  being  made  out  to  be  sent  to  their  respective* 
states  for  recruits.  Says  Colonel  Curtin  of  the  Forty-fifth:  "Captain  Camp- 


Memoranda  From  Diary  211 

bell,  you  are  about  the  only  officer  of  the  Forty-fifth  who  has  not  been  home 
since  enlisting  over  two  years  since.  Will  you  not  take  a  detail?  Many  of 
your  company  have  also  been  home."  The  Captain  replied,  "I  have  an  invalid 
sister  I  would  like  to  see,  otherwise  I  would  greatly  prefer  being  with  the  regi 
ment."  Unexpectedly  he  received  orders  to  take  a  detail.  He,  after  reaching 
home,  said,  "We  wheeled  about  for  a  backward  tramp  of  over  60  miles  to  rail 
road,  again  forded  that  river,  crossed  that  mountain  and  that  country  with  its 
unpleasant  sulphur  springs."  After  something  over  four  weeks'  furlough,  part  of 
which  was  spent  in  Philadelphia  recruiting  station,  he  started  for  the  regiment 
and  on  November  14th,  1863,  again  writes  from  Crab  Orchard,  Ky. :  "Arrived 
here  last  evening.  Met  my  men  at  Pittsburg.  Messrs.  Bailey  and  Musser,  who 
are  going  for  the  bodies  of  relatives,  have  much  trouble  getting  the  coffins 
through.  I  find  Halderman,  Will  Campbell  and  Sam  Crider  here." 

November  19th,  London,  Ky.  Reached  here  through  much  tribulation.  Mr. 
John  Musser,  who  has  likely  reached  home  by  this  time,  can  tell  of  the  perplexi 
ties  of  himself  and  Mr.  John  Bailey.  Friends  there  will  never  realize  what  Mr. 
Bailey  endured  on  this  trip.  The  roads  are  so  narrow,  so  worn  down  water  can't 
drain  off.  Mire  mixed  with  mule  flesh,  so  deep  and  strong,  stench  is  horrid. 
Wagon  trains  can  make  but  six  or  ten  miles  per  day.  All  trains  in  the  rear  are 
ordered  to  halt.  Those  between  this  and  the  gap  ordered  back.  We  are  pushing 
to  the  front  on  foot.  One  hundred  and  sixty  miles  before  us.  Make  about  16 
per  day.  Army  mail  is  carried  on  pack  mules. 

November  22d,  1863.  Barboursville,  Ky.  We  are  28  miles  from  Cum 
berland  Gap.  Parson  Brownlow,  Horace  Maynard  and  other  prominent  East 
Tennesseeans  are  here  in  exile.  The  enemy  between  the  Gap  and  Knoxville.  We 
can't  get  farther  than  the  Gap.  Choose  to  remain  here.  Our  party  consists  of 
Rev.  J.  R.  Miller  of  the  Christian  Commission,  Mr.  John  Bailey,  Lieutenant 
Hart  and  myself.  The  boys  fell  in  with  a  wagon  train.  Hundreds  of  refugees 
from  Tennessee  are  in  this  region.  A  lawyer  told  me  that  men  had  hid  from 
Rebel  conscription,  their  wives  hung  by  the  neck  to  compel  divulging  their  hid 
ing  places.  Some  had  yielded.  The  men  were  then  shot  and  the  women  left 
hanging. 

BARBOURSVILLE. 

November  25th.  Mr.  Bailey  started  home  yesterday.  We  go  forward  this 
morning. 

CUMBERLAND  GAP. 

November  26th.  Arrived  here  at  three  P.  M.,  to  find  that  the  statement  of 
open  way  to  Knoxville  is  incorrect. 

November  29th.  Cold  morning.  Last  news  from  Burnside  still  gloomy.  He 
is  short  of  rations.  So  are  we.  A  little  Indian  meal  foraged  in  the  country,  a 
smell  of  coffee  and  sugar,  some  fresh  beef.  Colonel  Curtin  and  Lieutenant  Good- 
fellow  are  here.  We  are  all  on  duty  under  Wilcox. 

TAZEWELL,  TENN. 

December  3d.  General  Foster  came  to  the  Gap  on  30th,  ult.  Next  morning 
troops  moved  to  this  place.  The  army  is  living  from  hand  to  mouth.  The  citi 
zens  are  almost  destitute.  Starvation  stares  them  in  the  face. 


212     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

BLAINES  CROSS  ROADS,  TENN. 

December  18th.  I  left  Tazewell  alone,  the  other  officers  being  on  duty.  Over 
took  the  regiment  30  miles  northeast  of  Knoxville.  Had  made  quite  a  circuit 
to  avoid  the  enemies'  scouts.  Found  we  had  five  wounded  around  Knoxville. 
Orderly  Dad  Simms,  Caleb  Gates,  Josiah  Crider.  The  last  three  have  died. 
We  fell  back  to  this  place  as  the  enemy  pressed  us  heavily.  The  wagon  trarn 
containing  my  trunk  was  captured.  I  had  my  best  suit  on,  which  was  not 
quite  so  good  as  the  old  one.  Will  Campbell  and  Reuben  Halderman  were 
with  the  captured  train.  We  hear  they  escaped.  As  to  the  captured  wagon 
train,  we  glean  from  other  letters,  mainly  Beck  and  Fessler's,  that  it  contained 
100  pounds  of  sugar,  60  pounds  of  coffee  and  a  large  amount  of  provisions 
ordered  by  officers  of  the  Forty-fifth.  One  who  escaped  from  it  said  he  saw  Cap 
tain  Campbell's  coat  sold  four  times. 

REENLISITING  AND  HARDSHIPS. 

Under  date  of  December  24th,  1863,  Captain  Campbell  writes :  "Some  fifty 
or  sixty  have  signified  a  willingness  to  reenlist.  This  thing  of  sitting  with  aching 
eyes  over  smoky  campfires,  on  half  rations,  almost  naked  from  head  to  foot,  does 
not  encourage  reenlisting." 

January  3d,  1864.  "The  color  company  (E)  was  the  first  to  secure  reor 
ganization  by  a  three-fourths  enlistment.  This  reenlisting  will  be  considered  by 
the  Rebels  as  a  victory  over  them.  As  I  have  charge  of  the  reenlisting  of  the 
regiment  am  too  busy  to  write  often." 

Of  this  period  Dr.  Christ  writes :  "Officers  and  men  suffered  for  necessaries — 
food  for  days,  fresh  beef  without  salt  and  parched  corn.  Many  had  no  shoes, 
stockings,  blankets  or  overcoats,  yet  this  winter  was  severe.  Never  were  troops 
more  tried.  Government  hardly  to  blame.  Under  all  these  circumstances.  Janu 
ary  1st,  1864,  426  men  out  of  less  than  500  of  our  noble  Forty-fifth  reenlisted  for 
three  years  more.  Shall  never  forget  the  hardship  crossing  Cumberland  Moun 
tains  in  midwinter.  Blood  from  many  a  poor  boy's  foot  stained  ice  and  snow. 
Every  one  was  a  hero." 

Fessler  writes :  "After  reenlisting  we  started  on  a  200  mile  march  with  one 
pint  of  flour  per  man.  Thought  we  might  as  well  starve  trying  to  reach  home  as 
remain  where  we  were  and  starve.  After  a  week  in  Cincinnati  we  hied  to  our 
homes,  to  all  that  name  makes  dear  to  man,  to  forget  for  a  time  war's  fearful 
ravages." 

Beck  writes :  "When  on  January  16th,  1864,  we  began  the  homeward 
march,  Captain  Campbell  took  charge  of  all  the  regimental  papers  and  the  sick." 

February  10th,  1864.  Many  boys  of  Company  E  reached  their  homes  in  Cen 
ter  and  adjoining  counties  on  veteran  furlough  for  30  days.  Early  the  following 
March  the  regiment  reassembled  at  Harrisburg.  Soon  left  for  Annapolis,  Md., 
where  the  corps  reorganized  under  Burnside  before  the  Virginia  campaign.  April 
27th  the  corps  encamped  at  Fairfax,  Va. 

February  28th.  Again  on  the  march,  through  Centreville,  waded  Bull  Run, 
encamped  about  twelve  miles  beyond  it. 

May  4th.     Marched  eighteen  miles. 

May  5th.   Started  at  5  P.  M.,  crossed  the  Rappahannock  at  8  P.  M.,  Rapidan, 


W.  H.  Musser 
Company  E 


A  Short  History  of  Company  E  213 

4 :30  P.  M.  Crossed  both  streams  on  pontoons.  Encamped  after  20  miles  of 
march.  From  letters  of  Lieutenant  Beck,  Drs.  Maxwell  and  Christ  we  glean : 
Resting  a  few  hours  after  march  on  the  5th,  the  heavy  cannonading  of  night 
attack  in  the  Wilderness  roared  around.  At  2  A.  M.,  May  6th,  the  Ninth  Corps 
moved  to  the  front  and  "occupied  the  center  of  the  fiery  flaming  field  of  the 
Wilderness."  "At  1  P.  M.  the  Forty-fifth  received  a  shower  of  leaden  balls 
from  concealed  Rebels — learned  they  were  on  their  knees  100  yards  from  us." 
Lieutenant  Goodfellow  was  the  first  killed,  next  Halderman  and  Beck,  Company 
E.  "Colonel  Curtin,  grasping  the  colors  from  the  color-bearer,  dashed  to  the 
front.  At  the  same  moment  each  captain  dashed  to  the  front  of  his  company.  As 
we  were  sweeping  all  before  us  Captain  Campbell  turned  facing  his  men  and 
cried,  'Rally  Round  the  Flag,'  when  he  fell  mortally  wounded." 

A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  COMPANY  E 

FIRST  SERGEANT  W.  H.  MUSSER. 

In  attempting  to  give  a  history  of  the  doings  of  Company  E  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry  from  the  time  of  enrollment,  on 
September  2d,  1861,  at  Baileyville,  Centre  County,  Pa.,  to  the  time  of  the  final 
discharge  at  Harrisburg,  July  21st,  1865,  is  at  this  late  day,  an  undertaking  which 
I  am  hardly  capable  of  fulfilling;  but  having  been  appointed  by  the  Historical 
Commission  of  the  Forty-fifth  to  do  so,  I  will  try  to  obey  orders,  which  is  the  first 
duty  of  a  good  soldier.  When  the  company  was  organized,  Henry  Stevens,  a 
Mexican  War  soldier  and  a  farmer,  was  elected  as  its  first  captain,  and  John  O. 
Campbell  and  John  Irvin  as  first  and  second  lieutenants  respectively.  It  went 
at  once  to  Harrisburg  and  reported  at  Camp  Curtin.  Armstrong  Bailey  was  elect 
ed  first  sergeant  and  Joseph  Reigle  regimental  color  bearer,  as  Company  E  was 
selected  by  the  field  officers  as  the  color  company  of  the  regiment.  Joseph  Reigle 
was  the  tallest  man  in  the  regiment,  and  he  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  patriotic 
men.  He  was  a  great  reader  of  history  and  a  first-class  soldier.  Company  E 
consisted  mostly  of  farmers'  sons,  and  laborers  employed  at  and  about  the  Penn 
sylvania  Furnace,  Centre  County,  and  from  the  northwestern  part  of  Huntingdon 
county.  Thomas  Welsh,  of  Columbia,  Pa.,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  regi 
ment,  and  received  our  colors  from  Governor  Andrew  G.  Curtin  on  the  21st  of 
October,  1861. 

We  left  Camp  Curtin  and  went  to  Washington,  D.  C,  by  rail,  and  from 
there  to  Bladensburg,  Md.,  and  encamped  on  the  dueling  grounds  of  the  fighting 
men  of  former  days.  This  proved  to  be  an  unhealthy  place.  Many  of  the  men 
were  prostrated  with  chills  and  fever  and  our  field  officers  made  complaint  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  when  we  were  soon  ordered  to  go  south.  At  this  place  the 
writer  was  appointed  by  Captain  Stevens  to  the  position  of  first  corporal  of  Com 
pany  E.  At  this  camp  (Camp  Casey)  we  were  brigaded  with  other  regiments, 
and  General  O.  O.  Howard  was  appointed  our  brigade  commander.  The  first 
week  in  November,  1861,  we  had  our  first  taste  of  hard  marching.  Our  brigade 
was  sent  to  guard  an  election  on  the  peninsula  lying  between  Chesapeake  Bay 
and  the  Potomac  River.  We  marched  about  60  miles  in  three  days,  leaving 
portions  of  the  brigade  at  small  towns  on  our  route.  The  third  day  Company  E 
was  selected,  together  with  a  company  of  cavalry,  and  marched  about  12 
miles  farther  to  guard  the  last  polling  place  on  the  peninsula.  On  the  day  after 


214     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

the  election,  November  7th,  we  started  on  the  return,  on  the  10th  arriving  at  our 
old  camp  at  Bladensburg.  This  march  proved  to  be  a  hard  one,  the  weather  was 
bad,  rain  part  of  the  time,  the  roads  were  deep  sand,  much  sickness  ensued.  I 
myself  lost  several  toe  nails  on  account  of  wearing  light  boots;  this  taught  me 
to  wear  none  but  the  easiest  army  shoes.  Having  received  marching  orders  on 
November  19th,  we  struck  tents  and  left  quite  a  number  of  the  regiment  sick  in 
camp  to  be  sent  to  the  hospital.  Corporal  John  Campbell  and  Private  David 
Lightner  were  among  those  left.  Francis  A.  Weston,  of  our  company,  died  here 
on  November  13th.  We  went  to  Baltimore  by  rail,  thence  on  the  old  steamer 
"Pocahontas,"  down  Chesapeake  Bay  and  landed  at  Fortress  Monroe,  on  Novem 
ber  21st.  Then  marched  to  camp  along  Hampton  Roads.  On  the  28th  of  Novem 
ber,  at  this  place,  Captain  Henry  Stevens  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health  and 
the  company  elected  John  O.  Campbell  captain,  and  Sergeant  John  Beck  as  first 
lieutenant.  On  December  4th,  1861,  the  paymaster  visited  us  for  the  first  time 
and  gave  us  two  months'  pay,  but  on  account  of  a  blunder  of  some  person  I  failed 
to  get  my  pay,  being  not  as  yet  swrorn  regularly  into  the  United  States  service. 
This  was  my  first  lesson  in  red  tape.  I  was  sworn  in,  as  I  thought,  solid  enough 
on  September  llth,  at  Harrisburg.  But  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse  I  was 
sworn  into  the  United  States  service  before  the  State  service.  I  might  here  state 
that  I  joined  the  company  on  September  llth,  at  Harrisburg,  having  had  a  taste 
of  army  life  from  April  20th,  1861,  to  August  1st,  1861,  in  Company  H,  Seventh 
Pennsylvania  Infantry,  and  being  well  acquainted  with  Captain  Stevens  and  some 
of  the  men  of  the  company,  I  chose  it  for  a  three  years' '  service.  During  the 
month  of  August,  1861,  I  was  at  home,  and  took  the  notion  of  preparing  myself 
for  teaching  school  the  coming  winter,  having  attended  Pinegrove  Academy  for 
several  years  and  left  it  to  fight  the  battles  of  our  country.  I  returned  to  the  same 
school,  but  feeling  it  my  duty  to  my  country  and  flag  myj  attendance  at  school 
was  of  short  duration,  hence  my  enlistment  at  Harrisburg.  On  December  6th,  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  we  struck  tents,  got  on  board  the  steamer  "Cosmopolitan"  and 
next  morning  found  us  on  the  broad  Atlantic  going  south,  and  on  the  10th  we 
landed  at  Fort  Beauregard,  in  Port  Royal  Harbor,  S.  C. 

We  had  a  very  pleasant  trip,  and  on  this  our  first  day  in  the  "Sunny  South," 
Companies  A  and  E  had  the  pleasure  of  our  first  bath  in  southern  waters.  From 
this  time  until  December  31st,  we  had  charge  of  the  negroes  of  the  island  of  St. 
Helena,  in  gathering  in  the  cotton  left  on  the  island  and  shipping  it  north,  the 
white  people  having  all  deserted  when  our  troops  took  possession  after  the  cap 
ture  of  Port  Royal  in  November. 

Some  time  in  January,  1862,  Company  E  was  sent  to  Hilton  Head  and  settled 
down  on  the  plantation  at  Spanish  Wells ;  here  we  encamped  very  pleasantly  until 
about  the  1st  of  July,  when  the  regiment  was  called  together  and  encamped  near 
Seabrook  Landing  until  the  8th  of  July,  when  we  were  ordered  north  to  join 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  The  eight  months  we  spent  in  South  Carolina  was 
what  we  might  call  Sunday  soldiering;  our  hardest  battle  there  was  with  gnats 
and  mosquitos,  and  we  only  now  and  then  saw  one  or  two  of  the  enemy,  miles 
away  on  other  islands.  For  some  time  after  we  arrived  there  we  picked  oranges 
off  the  trees,  and  sweet  potatoes  were  still  in  the  sand  where  they  grew.  We 
could  catch  all  the  fish  we  wanted  with  hook  and  line  and  the  last  three  months 
we  were  there  we  had  all  the  green  corn  and  all  the  watermelons  we  wanted 
to  eat.  Of  course  the  two  latter  were  private  property  belonging  to  the  colored 


A  Short  History  of  Company  E  215 

people.  Some  we  paid  for  and  some  we  did  not.  The  great  majority  of  these 
people  was  strangely  ignorant  and  very  few  of  them  knew  of  any  other  island 
than  the  one  they  were  raised  on.  Hilton  Head  Island,  where  we  were  then  en 
camped,  was  about  seven  by  fifteen  miles.  The  melons  were  large  and  the  patches 
were  full.  More  than  once  I  heard  this  expression  among  the  colored  people, 
"Great  God,  wot  a  Yankee  kin  do ;  dey  walk  troo  de  patch  and  de  melon  hang  to 
dere  feet."  The  melons  lay  in  deep  furrows  and  while  some  of  the  Yankees  were 
walking  through  the  patches  talking  to  the  owners  the  melons  would  naturally 
hang  to  their  feet  as  their  feet  were  entangled  among  the  vines.  Some  of  these 
people  could  not  understand  where  all  the  soldiers  came  from.  We  told  among 
them  that  up  north  we  could  plant  the  seed,  raise  soldiers  in  the  spring,  and  in 
the  autumn  we  could  drive  them  out  of  the  fields  in  regiments.  We  could  get 
fresh  meat  on  other  islands  by  going  across  and  killing  it.  Our  soldiering  was 
picket  guard  duty  from  dusk  to  daylight  and  in  day  time  stopping  all  passing 
boats  and  demanding  passes.  This  body  of  water  was  called  "Calibogue  Sound," 
an  arm  of  the  sea.  The  water  was  deep  enough  for  ocean  steamers.  The  sound 
was  from  one  mile  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide.  Sometimes  small  boats  would 
run  past  us  by  keeping  close  to  the  opposite  shore.  Some  parties  did  not  wish  to 
be  hauled  in  and  lose  time  by  showing  passes,  so  at  one  time  the  writer  was  on 
guard  in  front  of  the  camp  of  Company  E,  when  a  good  sized  boat  with  six  or 
eight  oars,  run  past,  not  heeding  the  call  of  "Boat  Ahoy!"  So  we  shot  across 
their  bow  before  they  turned  and  came  over;  the  boat  contained,  besides  six  or 
eight  men  at  the  oars,  several  officers  of  a  New  York  command.  Their  bow 
struck  bottom  about  twenty  feet  from  land  and  the  ranking  officer  reached  in  his 
pocket  and  held  out  his  pass  and  the  following  dialogue  took  place : 

OFFICER.    "Come  and  examine  my  pass." 

GUARD.    "Bring  or  send  it  to  land,  please." 

OFFICER.    "I  am  not  obliged  to  wade  out  to  hand  it  to  you." 

GUARD.  "Neither  am  I  obliged  to  wade  out  to  see  it;  send  one  of  your 
men  with  it." 

OFFICER.    "I  will  not." 

GUARD.     "Then  you  cannot  proceed." 

OFFICER.    "Men  push  off." 

GUARD.  "If  you  do  so,  you  will  be  shot ;"  and  the  guard  proceeded  to  reload 
his  gun.  Then  the  officer  sent  one  of  his  men  out  and  the  writer  looked  at  the 
pass  and  pronounced  it  all  right. 

OFFICER  (talking  to  guard.)     "Do  you  know  to  whom  you  are  talking?" 

GUARD.    "I  do  not." 

OFFICER.    "Well,  I  am  G«neral ,  of  New  York." 

GUARD.  "General,  I  am  glad  to  meet  you ;  and  do  you  know  who  you  are 
talking  to  ?  You  are  talking  to  Corporal  Musser  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania." 

By  this  time  most  of  Company  E  were  gathered  on  the  beach  looking  on  and 
were  much  amused  in  listening  to  this  dialogue.  The  officer,  seeing  one  of  our 
sergeants  in  the  crowd,  called  to  him,  asking  him  to  go  to  camp  and  tell  his  cap 
tain  to  put  Corporal  Musser  under  arrest,  but  the  corporal  was  not  arrested. 


2i 6     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

While  in  camp  at  this  place  we  lost  the  youngest  soldier  in  our  company, 
Stewart  Cronister.  While  in  bathing  he  \vas  taken  by  the  undertow  and  was 
drowned.  His  body  was  afterwards  recovered  and  buried  under  a  pine  tree  on 
the  Spanish  Wells  plantation. 

While  here  three  of  our  company,  Christian  Ellenberger,  John  W.  Rider  and 
John  G.  Rider  were  discharged  for  disability  and  sent  home.  About  the  1st  of 
July  the  different  companies  of  the  regiment  were  called  together  and  opened  a 
new  camp  on  Hilton  Head  Island,  near  Seabrooke  Landing.  After  drilling  and 
having  dress  parades  for  a  week  or  ten  days  we  were  ordered  north  and  em 
barked  on  board  the  steamer  "Arago,"  and  in  due  time  landed  at  Newport  News, 
Va.  Here  we  had  a  beautiful  camp  on  the  banks  of  the  James  River.  In  the  be 
ginning  of  August  we  embarked  on  steamers,  went  up  the  Potomac,  and  landed  at 
Acquia  Creek  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  We  encamped  at1  Brookes  Station, 
several  miles  from  the  river.  A  part  of  the  regiment  guarded  the  Fredericksburg 
railroad  for  some  miles.  While  at  this  place  our  lieutenant  colonel,  James  A. 
Beaver,  left  us  and  went  to  Harrisburg  to  take  command  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Forty-eighth  Regiment. 

About  the  last  of  August  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run  was  in  progress.  We 
marched  back  to  Acquia  Creek  Landing,  after  burning  the  railroad  bridge  at  our 
camp  and  all  buildings  at  the  landing. 

I  celebrated  my  twenty-first  birthday  at  this  camp,  on  August  20th,  1862. 
After  burning  and  destroying  all  buildings  at  Acquia  Creek  Landing,  on  the  6th  of 
September  we  embarked  on  a  steamer  and  came  up  the  Potomac  to  Washington. 
From  Washington  we  marched  to  Frederick,  Md.,  in  light  marching  order,  and 
met  the  enemy  at  South  Mountain  on  Sunday,  September  14th.  This  was  Company 
E's  baptism  of  fire.  The  first  member  of  our  company  killed  was  Corporal  John 
Bell,  and  among  the  mortally  wounded  who  died  a  few  days  afterward  was  David 
Lightner,  our  violinist,  and  one  of  our  best  men.  John  Cronister,  a  brother  of 
Stewart  Cronister,  who  was  drowned  in  South  Carolina ;  John  Uhlrich,  and  Cor 
poral  Harry  Schall,  and  quite  a  number  of  others  were  slightly  wounded.  Among 
the  latter  was  the  writer.  No  one  need  ask  any  questions  about  it.  It  was  pro 
nounced  by  a  reporter  of  the  Philadelphia  Inquirer,  "wounded  severely."  After 
spending  a  few  days  in  a  temporary  hospital  in  Middletown  and  assisting  W.  H. 
Fry  to  Frederick  City,  he  being  severely  wounded  in  the  scalp,  the  writer  then  be 
ing  tired  of  temporary  hospital  life  retraced  his  steps  and  the  next  night,  all 
alone,  he  slept  on  the  South  Mountain  battlefield.  The  next  morning,  at  the  foot 
of  South  Mountain,  near  Boonesboro,  he  ate  breakfast  with  a  number  of 
teamsters,  after  which  he  resumed  his  march  and  by  the  way  of  Antietam  battle 
field  and  Sharpsburg,  he  rejoined  his  regiment  that  evening  near  the  Antietam  iron 
works.  At  the  latter  battle,  September  17th,  we  lost,  instantly  killed,  one  of  our 
best  and  noblest  corporals,  Thomas  B.  McWilliams.  He  was  killed  near  Burn- 
side  Bridge. 

While  in  camp  at  this  place  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  President  Lincoln 
at  the  headquarters  tent  of  General  McClellen.  The  6th  and  7th  of  November  we 
encamped  in  what  we  called  "Starvation  Hollow."  Some  quartermaster's  blun 
der  was  the  cause  of  all  this,  as  we  were  not  more  than  45  miles  from 
Washington,  and  were  unnecessarily  starving  so  near  our  base  of  supplies. 


A  Short  History  of  Company  E  217 

From  this  place  we  crossed  the  Potomac  and  marched  overland  to  opposite 
Fredericksburg.  At  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  December  13th  and  14th,  we  were 
under  fire  several  times,  but  our  company  escaped  without  any  casualties.  On  the 
march  from  the  Potomac  to  Fredericksburg  we  suffered  some  days  for  want  of 
rations.  We  were  in  camp  on  the  hills  opposite  Fredericksburg,  took  part  during 
this  time  in  the  "Stuck  in  the  mud"  campaign  and  on  February  12th,  1863,  we 
went  by  rail  to  Acquia  Creek  Landing  and  by  boat  down  the  Potomac  to  Newport 
News  again  and  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  James  River. 

While  in  South  Carolina  we  were  drilled  in  the  bayonet  and  skirmish  exer 
cises,  and  in  this  camp  we  were  drilled  in  the  manual  of  arms  by  the  ( tap  of  the 
drum.  This  drill  was  gone  through  in  106  different  movements,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  regiment  became  proficient  and  made  a  fine  appearance.  From  here  we 
made  one  of  our  much-talked-of  movements,  by  being  transferred  to  the  west,  by 
steamer  to  Baltimore,  thence  by  rail  over  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  to 
Parkersbtirg,  Va.,  on  the  Ohio  River,  thence  by  steamer  to  Cincinnati,  and  by  rail 
again  south  to  camp  Dick  Robinson,  in  Kentucky.  Here  Colonel  Welsh  was  pro 
moted  to  brigadier  general,  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin  to  colonel.  In 
this  camp  we  had  a  pleasant  time  for  a  few  months,  but  about  June  1st,  General 
Grant,  having  invested  Vicksburg  and  asking  for  reinforcements,  our  division  of 
the  Ninth  Corps  was  ordered  to  his  relief.  We  marched  across  to  Louisville, 
crossed  the  Ohio  on  ferry  boats  and  went  by  rail  to  Cairo,  111.,  via  the  Ohio  & 
Mississippi  railroad,  by  steamer  down  the  Mississippi  River  and  up  the  Yazoo 
and  landed  at  Haines  Bluff  in  rear  of  Vicksburg.  From  this  time  on  until  the  3rd 
of  July  we  worked  with  pick,  shovel  -and  axe,  building  fortifications  and  breast 
works,  digging  rifle  pits,  facing  to  the  rear,  watching  for  General  Johnston  and 
his  army  to  come  to  relieve  the  Rebel  army,  which  was  besieged  in  Vicksburg. 

After  the  surrender  of  General  Pemberton  and  his  army  on  the  Fourth  of 
July,  1863,  we  advanced  in  the  direction  of  Jackson,  the  capital  of  Mississippi, 
situated  about  forty-five  miles  northeast  of  Vicksburg.  By  the  10th  and  llth  we 
closed  in  on  the  city  from  all  sides  except  on  the  east  on  Pearl  River.  After 
skirmishing  more  or  less  until  the  17th,  in  the  morning  we  found  the  enemy  gone. 
We  stayed  here  a  few  days,  destroying  railroads  and  government  buildings,  then 
returned  to  our  old  camps  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg,  and  on  the  4th  of  August  we 
embarked  on  a  steamer  on  the  Yazoo  River  at  Haines  Bluff.  The  Ninth  Corps  re 
ceived  the  thanks  of  General  Grant  acknowledging  our  valuable  services  during 
the  Vicksburg  campaign.  It  was  a  severe  campaign  for  all  of  us.  The  malaria  of 
the  Mississippi  low  lands,  the  scarcity  and  bad  quality  of  water,  the  severe  march 
ing  and  extremely  hot  weather,  dry  and  dusty  roads  greatly  impaired  the  health 
of  the  command.  The  writer  for  the  first  time  since  enlistment,  in  April,  1861,  was 
one  of  the  many  afflicted  with  chills  and  fever,  every  other  day.  Our  general, 
Thomas  Welsh,  here  contracted  disease  from  which  he  died  at  Cincinnati  on  the 
14th  of  August,  1863.  We  landed  at  Cairo,  111.,  and  returned  by  rail  via  Cincin 
nati,  down  into  Kentucky  to  Crab  Orchard,  camping  for  some  time  there.  In  the 
beginning  of  September  we  started  to  march  across  the  Cumberland  mountains  to 
East  Tennessee  via  Cumberland  Gap.  The  writer,  with  others,  having  had 
malaria  since  our  Vicksburg  campaign,  started  on  this  march,  but  took  chills  and 
fever  and  was  compelled  to  stop  and  spend  the  night  there  all  alone,  and  the  next 
day  returned  to  Crab  Orchard,  Ky.  Here  about  1,500  of  our  division 


218     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

were  left  in  a  convalescent  camp  in  charge  of  a  surgeon.  William  Ellenberger, 
Samuel  Crider  and  Corporal  Jacob  Ward  of  our  company  were  here  also.  The 
latter  died  October  1st,  1863.  I  applied  to  the  surgeon  in  charge  of  our  camp 
for  permission  to  cross  the  Cumberland  mountains.  With  four  others  of  our 
regiment,  having  received  two  days'  rations  and  a  good  supply  of  quinine  and  two 
months'  pay,  we  started  on  October  10th  for  Tennessee.  We  traveled  by  ourselves 
and  camped  when  tired.  The  second  day  of  our  march  we  captured  a  cast-off  army 
mule  and  compelled  him  to  lug  our  baggage.  After  marching  for  16  days  we 
arrived  at  Morristown,  Tenn.,  on  the  East  Tennessee  &  Virginia  Railroad.  There 
we  discharged  our  mule  and  procuring  transportation  from  the  provost  marshal  of 
the  city,  boarded  a  freight  train  and  found  the  regiment  in  camp  at  Knoxville. 
The  regiment  was  engaged  on  October  10th  at  the  Battle  of  Blue  Springs,  and 
Corporal  Richard  Bailey,  of  our  company,  was  wounded  and  died  at  Knoxville  on 
October  18th.  He  was  one  of  our  best  young  men.  While  on  the  tramp  from  Crab 
Orchard,  Ky.,  to  Morristown,  Tenn.,  a  distance  of  120  miles,  sixteen  days 
marching,  we  had  only  four  days'  government  rations.  We  started  with  two  days' 
rations  and  received  two  more  from  a  quartermaster  enroute  to  Tennessee.  We 
lived  well,  had  plenty ;  we  had  corn,  apples  and  one  day  we  had  the  good  fortune 
to  capture  a  good  sized  hog,  corn  bread  and  sorghum,  (Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
molasses  made  out  of  corn  stalks),  with  now  and  then  purchasing  some  biscuits. 
My  chills  and  fever  left  me  in  the  beginning  of  this  march,  surrendered  to 
quinine,  but  returned  in  the  spring  of  1864  at  Harrisburg.  On  about  the  last  of 
October  we  left  camp,  marching  down  the  valley  of  the  Tennessee  River  and  went 
into  camp  at  Lenore  Station,  about  25  miles  southwest  of  Knoxville.  Here 
we  were  ordered  to  build  winter  quarters,  which  we  did,  and  after  being  snugly 
fixed  for  the  winter  we  struck  tents.  General  Longstreet  came  up  from  Chat 
tanooga,  aiming  for  Knoxville,  and  on  the  17th  of  November  we  were  attacked 
at  Campbells  Station  and  had  quite  a  lively  skirmish  until  dark.  We  lost  Josiah 
Crider,  of  Company  E,  mortally  wounded  as  we  were  on  the  retreat.  The  writer 
was  with  him  until  the  last,  but  was  compelled  to  leave  him  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  We  then  marched  all  night  and  at  daybreak  arrived  at  Knoxville,  very 
much  fatigued.  We  lay  down  to  sleep  but  our  rest  was  of  short  duration.  Wagon 
loads  of  picks  and  spades  were  given  us,  engineers  marked  a  line  for  rifle  pits  and 
we  stacked  arms  and  went  to  digging.  Our  brigade  commander,  Colonel  Morrison 
of  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York  Highlanders,  came  along  and  watched  us  digging 
and  exclaimed,  "Boys,  you  must  be  treated  well,"  and  it  was  but  a  short  time  when 
buckets  of  army  whiskey  were  carried  along  the  line  for  our  use.  In  a  short  time 
we  had  fairly  good  rifle  pits  thrown  up  and  at  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
our  outposts  were  attacked  by  the  advancing  enemy.  Our  cavalry  skirmishers 
were  engaged  all  day.  General  Sanders  was  killed  on  the  skirmish  line.  Out 
main  fort,  situated  on  the  northwest  corner  of  our  lines,  was  named  after  him. 

The  following  ten  days  we  spent  strengthening  our  lines.  More  or  less 
skirmishing  was  going  on  every  day.  We  had  very  little  time  for  rest  and  were 
on  about  one-fourth  rations  and  towards  the  last,  one  ear  of  corn  to  a  man  for 
24  hours.  Company  E  was  on  the  left  of  Fort  Sanders  supporting  Bat 
tery  Noble.  On  November  29th  our  lines  were  attacked  at  break  of  day.  The 
main  assault  by  the  enemy  was  made  on  Fort  Sanders.  Our  army  was  hungry 
enough  to  be  out  of  humor  and  consequently  in  a  fighting  humor.  The  enemy 
was  badly  used  up  in  less  than  30  minutes  and  retreated  in  disorder,  leaving1 


A  Short  History  of  Company  E  219 

their  dead  and  wounded  in  our  hands.  By  December  6th  the  enemy  was  in  full 
retreat,  moving  to  the  left  and  around  us  and  up  the  valley  towards  Virginia,  we 
in  pursuit. 

Thus  ended  the  campaign  in  East  Tennessee  and  we  settled  down  in  camp 
at  the  foot  of  Clinch  mountain  at  Blaines  Crossroads  between  Morristown  and 
Knoxville.  Company  E  lost  in  this  campaign  Richard  Bailey,  Caleb  Gates,  Mat 
thias  Krider,  Wesley  Simms,  Perry  Funk  and  James  Bailey,  the  first  three  died 
of  wounds  and  the  latter  three  of  disease.  At  this  time  we  were  sadly  in  need 
of  clothing  and  worse  off  for  rations.  On  January  1st,  1864,  426  of  the  Forty- 
fifth  Regiment  reenlisted,  thus  securing  to  themselves  a  30  day  furlough. 
Among  the  mountains  about  Clinch  River  in  mid-winter  with  scanty  provisions 
and  worn-out  clothing  and  quite  a  number  nearly  bare  foot,  it  became  a  question 
with  us  whether  to  remain  and  wait  for  rations  and  clothing  or  take  up  the  line  of 
march  and  forage  on  the  way.  The  latter  was  chosen.  Many  of  the  men  pro 
vided  themselves  with  rawhide  moccasins  of  their  own  make  for  the  trip  over  the 
mountains  of  Kentucky.  An  example  of  heroic  endurance  and  patriotic  devotion 
to  the  Bag  worthy  of  imitation  was  manifested  in  the  conduct  of  the  men  on  this 
march  of  about  160  miles  across  the  mountains  by  way  of  Cumberland  Gap  to 
the  nearest  railroad  station,  Nicholasville.  With  only  a  quart  of  meal  and  a  little 
meat  to  each  man .  and  no  certainty  of  finding  more  on  the  road,  it  required  a 
patriotism  as  earnest  and  a  purpose  as  fixed  to  patiently  endure  hardships  and 
privations  as  to  achieve  victory  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  On  the  17th  of  Janu 
ary  the  regiment  began  this  perilous  march. 

The  few  men  who  did  not  reenlist  were  transferred  temporarily  to  the  Sev 
enty-ninth  New  York.  On  the  18th  the  writer  while  passing  through  Cumber 
land  Gap  lost  the  sole  of  one  of  his  shoes  and  was  obliged  to  walk  in  his  stock 
ing  feet  through  mud,  snow  and  slush.  We  encamped  late  that  night  in  woods 
by  the  side  of  the  road;  the  rain  during  the  night  turned  into  snow  and  sleet 
and  the  next  morning  we  found  ourselves  covered  with  three  or  four  inches  of  it. 
I  borrowed  ten  dollars  from  a  comrade  and  remembering  from  last  fall  that  we 
would  find  a  small  store  near  our  camp  I  started  a  few  minutes  before  the  regi 
ment  and  bought  a  pair  of  light  boots,  the  only  pair  that  would  fit  me  in  the 
whole  outfit.  They  cost  me  $8.00.  Think  of  it!  New  boots  to  march  in,  yet  it 
was  the  best  I  could  do.  After  eight  days  more  of  marching  we  arrived  at  Nick- 
olasville,  Ky.,  and  received  rations  and  clothing.  Marching  in  new  boots  caused 
blistered  feet,  therefore  where  blisters  would  appear  I  would  cut  holes  in  the 
boots.  By  the  time  we  arrived  at  the  rairoad  my  boots  were  more  holes  than 
anything  else  and  were  exchanged  for  army  shoes.  Here  we  boarded  cattle  cars 
and  the  next  day  we  arrived  in  Cincinnati.  We  received  our  $100  old  bounty 
and  pay  due  us  and  boarded  a  train  for  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  where  we  arrived  on 
the  8th  of  February  and  in  due  time  we  were  granted  a  furlough  of  thirty  days. 

The  thirty  days  among  our  dear  ones  at  home  were  quickly  spent  and  the 
9th  of  March  found  us  back  in  Camp  Curtirt  with  many  new  recruits  and  ranks 
well  filled  up.  The  writer  was  detailed  with  nine  others  of  the  Forty-fifth  for  re 
cruiting  service  and  when  the  regiment  left  we  remained  in  Camp  Curtin.  I  was 
on  detached  duty  in  charge  of  squads  of  recruits,  delivering  them  to  their  com 
mands,  some  to  New  York  City  for  regiments  in  the  South,  some  for  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  for  the  Southwestern  army,  and  in  August  was  detailed  to  the  quarter- 


22O     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

master  department  and  assisted  in  issuing  clothing  and  supplies  to  the  Pennsyl 
vania  regiments  which  were  organized  in  Camp  Curtin  during  the  autumn  of 
1864. 

On  or  about  the  1st  of  November  I  was  ordered  to  the  front  and  was  granted 
a  five  day  furlough  to  go  home  to  vote,  after  which  I  returned  to  my  place  in  Com 
pany  E  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va.  Oh,  what  havoc  war  had  made  in  the  last 
eight  months  in  our  ranks !  When  the  Forty-fifth  left  Harrisburg  in  March  it 
numbered  almost  1,000  men,  and  I  found  on  November  llth  only  73  men  and  one 
officer,  all  told,  by  the  morning  report  of  the  regiment  and  nine  men  and  one  offi 
cer  all  were  left  of  Company  E.  During  these  eight  months  of  my  absence  Com 
pany  E  lost  13  men  instantly  killed,  ten  died  of  gunshot  wounds,  and  ten  died 
in  southern  prisons.  Among  those  killed  was  our  captain,  John  O.  Campbell,  one 
of  the  grandest  officers  in  the  regiment;  a  God-fearing  Christian  whole-souled 
man. 

Corporal  John  Campbell  was  killed  July  30th  by  a  cowardly  Rebel  after  he 
had  surrendered  in  the  crater.  But  the  same  Rebel  was  instantly  run  through 
with  a  bayonet  by  John  G.  Heberling  of  our  company  and  killed.  William  H, 
Buck,  Joshua  Hirst,  Reuben  Halderman,  Sergeant  William  S.  Koons,  Robert 
Ewing  and  Henry  Ellenbarger  were  among  the  killed.  Among  the  captured  were 
Lieutenant  John  Beck  and  First  Sergeant  Armstrong  Bailey.  Lieutenant  John 
Irvin  lost  a  foot.  Many  others  of  our  company  were  killed,  wounded  or  cap 
tured.  In  December  we  were  moved  to  the  right  and  directly  in  front  of  Peters 
burg  and  camped  alongside  of  and  near  Fort  Hell.  Here  we  built  pretty  fair 
winter  quarters,  camp  regularly  laid  out  in  company  streets  behind  a  low  hill 
and  partly  sheltered,  but  now  and  then  spent  balls  lit  in  our  camp  during  the  win 
ter.  One  of  our  substitutes,  Jerome  B.  Kelley,  was  seriously  wounded  by  a  spent 
ball  a  few  days  after  being  placed  in  our  company  and  was  taken  to  the  hospital. 
I  have  never  seen  him  since,  but  was  called  on  by  the  Pension  Department  some 
years  ago  for  an  affidavit  for  his  benefit.  I  was  able  to  give  date  and  particulars 
by  referring  to  my  diary. 

Here  during  January,  February  and  March  our  ranks  were  filled  up  with 
drafted  men  and  substitutes.  In  February  I  was  promoted  to  sergeant  and  acting 
first  sergeant  of  the  company.  We  might  say  that  we  were  under  fire  con 
tinually  and  doing  picket  duty  in  the  ditches  about  one-third  of  our  time.  David 
Love  of  our  company  was  wounded  while  on  picket  duty  and  was  sent  to  the 
hospital  and  discharged  on  account  of  said  wound. 

I  am  able  to  relate  here  the  most  miserable  24  hours  of  the  four  years  I 
spent  in  the  army.  I  went  with  a  detail  of  our  company  to  the  rifle  pits  and 
it  rained  and  sleeted  nearly  all  of  those  24  hours.  Our  rifle  pits  were  only 
about  five  feet,  six  inches  in  depth.  I  being  almost  six  feet  in  height,  I  could 
not  straighten  up  except  by  exposing  my  head  to  the  fire  of  the  Rebel  pickets. 
No  place  to  sit  down  on  account  of  the  mud  and  water  in  the  bottom  of  the 
rifle  pits,  all  this  time  was  spent  in  a  stooping  position,  walking  back  and 
forth,  firing  now  and  then  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy.  Those  24  hours 
spent  there  I  can  never  forget,  but  such  was  war.  On  April  2d  we  were  in 
our  last  battle,  in  the  general  assault  along  the  whole  line.  Company  E  lost 
in  this  assault  John  G.  Goss,  seriously  wounded,  and  Sergeant  William  Bell 
and  William  Zeigler  as  prisoners.  Our  regimental  commander,  Captain  R.  C. 
Cheeseman,  lost  a  leg.  The  next  morning,  April  3d,  the  enemy  was  gone  and 


A  Short  History  of  Company  E  221 

we  marched  into  Petersburg.  With  our  lamented  president,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
among  us,  the  last  time  I  saw  him.  From  this  time  on  we  were  in  chas^,  fol 
lowing  the  fleeing  enemy  to  Farmville,  Va.  While  in  camp  on  the  9th  General 
Lee  surrendered  his  army  at  Appomattox  Court  House  and  the  work  of  carnage 
was  over. 

The  writer  finds  it  a  rather  unpleasant  duty  to  attempt  to  go  into  detail  and 
give  an  accurate  account  of  what  transpired  during  his  time  in  actual  service. 
Space  is  too  limited  to  allow  more  than  a  brief  sketch  of  our  experience  during 
that  uncertain  period  of  our  life's  history.  Those  who  exchanged  homes, 
friends  and  comfort  for  the  fatigues  of  the  march,  the  terrors  of  battle  and 
the  pains  of  death,  went  not  as  men  against  men,  but  as  principle  against  prin 
ciple,  doctrine  against  doctrine,  and  faith  against  faith. 

It  is  charged  by  some,  who  possibly  had  a  warmer  side  for  that  section  lying 
south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  than  the  one  north,  that  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion  was  a  fratricidal  war ;  and  so  it  was  in  a  sense,  for  it  was  brother 
against  brother,  yet  the  object  was  not  merely  to  establish  the  supremacy  of  one 
flag  over  all  others;  one  flag  representing  a  code  of  principles.  There  was  no 
desire  to  shed  blood,  to  kill  each  other,  to  cause  the  fair  land  both  north  and 
south  to  be  moistened  with  the  tears  of  widows  and  orphans.  This  to  any 
soldier  was  a  shocking  thought,  yet  above  and  beyond  it  all  he  read  his  duty 
stamped  in  living  letters.  The  chill  of  horror  suggested  by  thoughts  of  carnage 
was  promptly  dispelled  by  the  thought  that  the  honor  of  the  government  had 
been  defied ;  the  supremacy  of  the  stars  and  stripes  derided ;  and  the  sacred 
traditions  of  liberty  and  independence  decried.  It  is  true  the  bloodiest  of  wars 
has  caused  desolate  homes,  vacant  chairs,  fatherless  children;  and  the  one  flag, 
representing  as  it  does  the  grandest  principles  in  the  political  economy  of  the 
world,  floats  supremely  and  without  a  rival.  Its  fair  folds  cleared  of  the  stain 
of  slavery  and  its  field  of  stars  widely  extended. 

It  is  true  that  hundreds  of  thousands  died  in  the  struggle,  but  it  was  that 
millions  that  were  and  millions  yet  to  be,  might  breathe  the  soul-nourishing  air 
of  freedom,  and  develop  into  a  heroic  and  independent  manhood.  It  was  a 
sacrifice  that  others  might  live. 

I  will  now  pursue  my  sketch  briefly  confining  myself  to  the  facts  as  they 
existed  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  of  Lee's  army.  Our  brigade  commanded 
by  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin  was  located  at  Farmville,  Va.,  about  30  miles  from 
Appomattox  Court  House.  Consequently  we  wrere  not  aware  of  the  surrender 
until  the  next  day,  April  10th.  Naturally  there  was  much  rejoicing  among  the 
troops.  Some  of  the  boys  went  wild  and  in  the  excitement  the  writer  met 
with  a  serious  accident.  The  Company  E  axe  was  thrown  in  the  air  and  it 
happened  to  cut  me  across  the  heel  of  my  left  foot,  putting  me  out  of  active 
service  for  about  four  weeks,  in  consequence  of  which  I  had  a  free  ride  on  an 
ambulance  and  on  a  wornout  Virginia  railroad  back  to  City  Point;  my  first 
ride  in  an  ambulance  during  the  war. 

The  regiment  marched  back.  Our  rejoicing  was  of  short  duration,  for  the 
next  painful  news  was  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  which  cast 
a  gloom  over  the  whole  army.  We  were  soon  on  board  an  old  transport  and 
arrived  at  Alexandria  the  next  day  and  encamped  on  the  hills  back  of  the  town. 


222     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

The  next  90  days  were  spent  pleasantly,  very  little  doing,  our  ranks  were  filling 
up  from  paroled  prisoners  and  others  who  had  been  absent  sick. 

On  May  1st  I  was  promoted  to  first  sergeant  of  Company  E  and  in  June  I 
was  granted  a  15-day  furlough.  After  spending  those  15  days  pleasantly  at 
home  I  returned  and  we  were  then  busy  preparing  our  muster-out  roll  and 
I  also  took  part  in  the  grand  review  at  Washington.  While  at  Alexandria  in 
camp  and  in  need  of  new  footwear  I  thought  of  buying  a  pair  of  light  boots,  but 
being  short  in  finances,  I  called  one  of  our  substitutes,  Jacob  Summers  by 
name,  a  German  from  New  York  City,  knowing  that  he  had  money,  and  asked 
him  for  the  loan  of  ten  dollars  until  pay  day  and  offered  him  my  due  bill. 
"Yes,  sergeant,"  says  he,  "I  will  loan  you  fifty  dollars,"  and  he  handed  me  a  fifty- 
dollar  bill,  but  not  wishing  to  have  that  much  we  went  to  the  sutler  and  had 
the  bill  changed,  received  ten  dollars  and  gave  him  my  due  bill  until  pay 
day.  I  went  to  Alexandria  and  bought  a  pair  of  boots,  paying  eight  dollars  for 
them.  The  next  morning  Jacob  Summers  was  among  the  missing  and  I  have 
never  seen  him  since  and  at  this  late  day  I  am  still  afraid  of  meeting  Jacob 
Summers  with  my  due  bill,  demanding  pay  for  same  with  compound  interest. 
Quite  a  number  of  our  substitutes  and  drafted  men  did  the  same  at  about  this 
time;  got  tired  waiting  to  be  discharged,  walked  off  and  went  home.  Some 
years  ago  one  of  them  wrote  to  me  and  asked  me  for  an  affidavit  in  order  to 
have  the  charge  of  desertion  removed  so  that  he  could  receive  pension.  I  granted 
the  request. 

In  the  beginning  of  May,  Captain  John  Beck  and  Lieutenant  A.  S.  Bailey 
returned  from  prison.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Theodore  Gregg  also  returned  about 
this  time  and  took  command  of  the  regiment  and  on  July  16th  we  were  mus 
tered  out  of  service  by  Lieutenant  Rose  of  the  Fifty-sixth  Massachusetts  Volun 
teers.  On  the  17th  we  took  the  cars  for  Harrisburg,  arriving  there  on  the  17th 
and  went  once  more  to  Camp  Curtin.  We  were  paid  off  on  the  22d  of  July  and 
our  discharges  dated  the  21st  of  July,  1865.  My  last  morning  report  of  Com 
pany  E  showed  present  three  officers  and  63  enlisted  men.  I  cannot  tell  the 
number  living  at  this  time,  as  I  do  not  know  the  whereabouts  of  so  many  of 
our  substitutes  and  drafted  men.  The  total  number  of  officers  and  enlisted 
men  in  Company  E  from  September  2d,  1861,  to  July  21st,  1865,  were  190.  Our 
losses  during  this  time  were  as  follows: 

Number  killed  in  battle 17 

Died  of  gunshot  wounds 17 

Died  of  disease  11 

Died  in  prison  9 

Drowned    2 

Discharged,  account  gunshot  wound 10 

Discharged  for  disability 30 

Discharged  at  expiration  of  first  enlistment 5 

Total    101 

I  believe  this  statement  to  be  correct,  as  I  have  compared  Bates'  History  of 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers  with  my  diary  kept  during  the  war.  We  might  have 
had  a  few  losses  in  the  summer  of  1864,  from  the  Rapidan  to  Petersburg  of 
which  I  have  not  been  correctly  informed.  I  can  truly  say,  and  often  have  said, 


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A  Short  History  of  Company  E  223 

at  campfires  and  reunions  that  to  take  my  service  in  the  army  from  1861  to 
1865  as  a  whole,  I  enjoyed  it,  yet  I  experienced  trials  and  hardships  so  that 
many  times  I  wished  I  could  spend  the  night  in  my  father's  barnyard  with  the 
cattle  around  the  straw  stack.  But  I  always  tried  to  look  on  the  bright  side,  if 
there  was  at  all  any  bright  side  to  look  at.  I  refer  to  all  my  comrades  living 
to  say  that  it  was  very  seldom  I  was  down-hearted.  In  my  boyhood  days  I 
was  taught  music;  I  loved  it.  Some  five  or  six  of  our  regiment  organized 
into  a  glee  club  and  one  of  the  alto  singers  was  a  member  of  the  Thirty-sixth 
Massachusetts  Volunteers.  We  often  met  in  the  summer  of  1863  while  in  Ken 
tucky  and  did  much  singing,  but  the  Vicksburg  campaign  played  havoc  \vith  us. 
The  one  from  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  died  on  the  march  from  Vicksburg 
to  Jackson,  Miss.,  very  suddenly  from  sunstroke  and  the  writer  was  laid  out  by 
an  attack  of  malaria.  Then  in  the  summer  of  1864  our  bass  singer  was  killed  in 
the  crater  in  front  of  Petersburg,  July  30th,  and  Dr.  Yarrington  of  Company 
D  was  also  incapacitated  in  this  campaign.  In  the  spring  of  1865,  while  at 
Alexandria,  Va.,  we  tried  to  reorganize  with  new  blood  but  did  not  meet  with 
much  success.  We  of  Company  E  rejoice  to  know  that  in  a  measure  we  have 
kept  up  our  organization.  Shortly  after  our  return  home  we  were  called  to 
gether  by  the  noble  citizens  of  the  west  end  of  Center  County  and  the  northern 
part  of  Huntingdon  County  for  a  grand  welcome  home.  We  had  such  leading 
men  and  women  as  the  Clemsons,  the  Goheens,  the  McWilliams,  the  Glenns  and 
many  others  whom  I  could  name,  who  all  stood  by  us  during  those  trying  times 
of  the  war.  I  remember  in  the  winter  of  1862  and  1863,  in  front  of  Fredericks- 
burg,  Va.,  they  came  to  see  us  and  brought  us  a  four-horse  wagonload'  of  good 
things  from  home  for  Company  E.  For  John  Goheen  nothing  was  too  much  of 
a  task  to  undertake  for  our  comfort.  Our  old  captain,  Stevens,  had  us  hold  a 
reunion  at  his  home,  Comrade  W.  H.  Fry  had  us  at  his  home  once  at  Pinegrove 
Mills,  our  lieutenant,  Amos  Harper,  had  us  once  at  his  home  in  Philipsburg, 
Pa.,  and  on  September  2d,  1909,  the  writer  was  honored  by  the  annual  reunion 
at  Bellefonte.  Some  of  the  company  brought  their  wives  and  we  spent  a  very 
pleasant  time  in  Bellefonte.  Thirteen  of  us  came  together  and  had  our  picture 
taken  in  group,  (see  group).  On  August  20th,  1910,  12  of  us  spent  the  day  very 
pleasantly  at  Baileyville  picnic  and  helped  in  the  preparations  to  erect  a  monu 
ment  to  our  old  company  on  the  grounds  where  the  company  started  from  ;on 
September  2d,  1861.  Since  our  last  meeting  three  others  have  died:  Jefferson 
Force  died  October  20th,  1910,  at  Pine  Glen,  Center  County,  Pa.;  David  Love 
died  on  the  23rd  day  of  April,  1911,  at  Bellefonte;  John  G.  Heberling  died  on 
July  2d,  1911,  at  Pinegrove  Mills,  Center  County,  Pa. 

As  the  writer  looks  back  over  those  50  years  as  a  young  boy  still  in  his 
teens,  unthinking  of  the  world,  not  thinking  what  was  in  store  for  him  or 
what  he  was  about  to  face,  he  donned  his  blue  uniform  and  swore  allegiance  to 
the  United  States  against  all  enemies  or  oppressors  whatsoever.  No  imagination 
could  have  possibly  conceived  what  that  boy  was  about  to  experience,  what 
paths  of  danger  and  hardships  he  was  about  to  traverse.  Standing  to-day  on  the 
sundown  slope  and  looking  back  over  the  bewildering  course  we  have  followed 
since  that  day  when  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon,  no  one  can  help  being  lost 
in  the  wonder  of  it  all.  It  is  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  we  can  com 
prehend  a  part  of  it;  much  as  we  may  strive  we  cannot  take  in  all  that  came 
to  us  and  our  comrades  and  those  around  us,  and  to  our  nation  in  the  half 


224     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

century  which  has  elapsed,  our  highest  and  deepest  feeling  must  be  amazement 
over  the  "mysterious  ways  in  which  God  moves  His  wonders  to  perform;"  so 
that,  looking  back  to  what  we  have  accomplished  by  our  fidelity,  our  suffering' 
and  the  hardships  which  we  endured,  we  can  rejoice  to  know  that  our  country 
was  saved,  the  union  of  states  is  complete,  and  on  account  of  our  sacrifices  we 
have  the  best  and  grandest  country  on  the  globe.  So  let  us  live  that  our  last 
days  may  be  our  best  days,  and  let  us  all  strive  to  be  ready  to  answer  when  the 
last  roll  is  called  that  we  may  receive  the  plaudit,  "Well  Done." 


FORMATION  OF  COMPANY  F 

CAPTAIN  L.  W.  LORD. 

The  larger  part  of  this  company  was  recruited  at  Equinunk,  Wayne  County, 
Pa.  About  20  were  recruited  from  Tioga  County  by  George  P.  Scudder,  and 
15  came  from  Delaware  and  Sullivan  Counties  in  New  York  State,  i 

In  the  first  week  of  August,  1861,  Charles  E.  Parker,  of  Equinunk,  Pa.,  went 
to  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  and  obtained  permission  from  Governor  Curtin  to  raise  a 
company  of  volunteers  for  the  war.  He  came  home  wearing  an  army  forage 
cap  and  immediately  began  recruiting. 

The  patriotic  citizens  of  Equinunk  had  contributed  money  and  purchased 
an  American  flag,  fife  and  drums,  so  we  started  with  martial  music.  On  the  2nd 
day  of  September  the  first  22  men  were  enrolled.  After  a  few  days  Captain 
Parker  took  the  first  squad  to  Camp  Curtin,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  The  writer,  who 
could  play  the  fife,  and  N.  D.  Guile,  the  drum,  remained  behind  to  drum  up 
more  recruits.  Soon  Captain  Parker  returned  and  on  the  17th,  all  that  had 
enlisted  since  the  2nd,  started  for  Lordville,  N.  Y.,  the  railway  station  one  mile 
distant,  with  our  music  in  the  lead.  As  we  were  passing  a  gang  of  railroad 
fence  builders  one  of  their  number,  Daniel  Thomas,  threw  down  his  tools  and 
joined  us,  saying:  "I  can't  see  the  boys  go  without  me."  William  M.  Nelson, 
a  prominent  citizen  of  Equinunk,  who  has  served  several  terms  in  the  Pennsyl 
vania  legislature,  accompanied  us  to  the  station  and  sent  us  off  with  a  patriotic 
speech. 

We  arrived  at  Camp  Curtin  the  18th,  and  our  first  night  in  camp  is  still 
remembered.  We  had  A  tents  and  with  half  of  a  dirty  army  blanket  lay  on  the 
ground  without  any  other  covering  except  our  clothing.  We  had  come  out  of 
feather  beds  at  home  and  the  contrast  could  be  felt.  Captain  Parker  returned 
to  Wayne  County  for  more  recruits.  George  Scudder,  formerly  of  Equinunk, 
enlisted  20  men  in  Tioga  County  and  joined  our  company.  He  was  commis 
sioned  second  lieutenant,  and  George  S.  Redfield,  a  physician  of  Equinunk,  first 
lieutenant.  While  in  Camp  Curtin  the  writer  acted  as  orderly  sergeant  and 
attended  sergeant's  drill  and  school  of  instruction,  and  what  he  learned  there 
of  Captain  Tarbutton  was  of  great  benefit  to  him  during  the  four  years  of 
service. 

Our  company  was  attached  to  Colonel  Thomas  Welsh's  Forty-fifth  Penn 
sylvania  Regiment  and  called  Company  F.  A  part  of  the  company  and  regi 
ment  were  mustered  into  the  United  States  service  on  September  21st  by  J.  W. 


Captain  L.  W.  Lord,  Co.  F. 
1865 


Formation  of  Company  F  225 

Piper.  Soon  Captain  Parker  returned  with  more  recruits  and  the  regiment  was 
mustered  into  the  United  States  service  October  16th  by  Lieutenant  Gansevoort. 
The  enlisted  men  of  our  company  had  no  voice  in  the  selection  of  its  commis 
sioned  officers;  it  was  understood  by  them  who  the  officers  were  to  be.  An 
election  of  noncommissioned  officers  was  held  while  in  Camp  Curtin,  resulting 
as  follows : 

James   E.   Woodmansee Orderly   Sergeant 

Richard   Humphrey    Sergeant 

Henry  Lord  " 

Depuy  Teeple   " 

Morris  Eldred   " 

Albro  F.  Hill Corporal 

Daniel  C.  Warren   

Isaac  W.  Cole  

John  W.  Hughes " 

Jasper  E.  Edwards " 

Linus  Demander " 

Andrew  Frazier  " 

George  Osterhoudt   " 

James  H.  Guile  Musician 

John  D.  Palmer,  Jr 

John  M.   Chandler   Wagoner 

When  John  D.  Palmer  was  enlisted  he  was  too  young  to  be  accepted  as  a 
private.  He  was  large  for  his  age  and  it  was  understood  at  the  time  he  should 
carry  a  musket,  as  he  knew  nothing  about  music,  and  the  writer,  who  could  play 
a  fife,  was  detailed  as  musician.  The  company  and  regiment,  after  being  mus 
tered  into  the  United  States  service,  received  their  clothing  and  after  a  few 
days,  their  arms  and  equipment.  Just  before  the  regiment  started  for  Wash 
ington,  the  writer  was  detailed  on  recruiting  service  and  sent  to  Wayne  County, 
Pa.,  and  while  waiting  in  the  capitol  for  transportation  had  his  first  conversa 
tion  with  Governor  Curtin. 

The  regiment  went  to  Washington  and  was  reviewed  by  General  McClellan 
and  then  marched  to  Bladenburg  encamping  on  or  near  the  old  dueling  ground. 
Our  camp  was  called  Camp  Casey.  The  writer  returned  to  Washington  with 
recruit  Lewis  M.  Purdy,  about  November  2d,  and  after  some  difficulty  and  de 
lay  found  the  camp.  The  regiment  had  been  sent  to  Prince  Frederick,  Md.,  a 
distance  of  about  60  miles,  to  guard  election  polls,  and  was  away  when  we 
reached  camp.  Captain  Parker's  remarks  in  the  monthly  return  of  the  Company 
for  November,  1861,  said:  "The  company  with  the  regiment  on  November  3d, 
marched  27  miles,  carrying  arms,  knapsacks  and  rations.  In  a  few  days  we 
returned  to  camp.  On  this  march  our  boys  had  their  first  taste  of  unripe 
persimmons.  Our  regiment  was  attached  to  General  O.  O.  Howard's  brigade. 
Lieutenant  Scudder  of  Company  F  was  detailed  as  aide  to  General  Howard, 
who  was  a  very  pious  man  and  would  get  down  on  his  knees  and  pray  audibly  in 
the  presence  of  his  brigade. 

On  the  17th  of  November  we  moved  from  Camp  Casey  to  a  location  two 
miles  from  Washington.  Lieutenant  Scudder  was  relieved  from  detached  service 
and  reported  to  his  company  for  duty,  the  regiment  having  received  orders  to 


226     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

go  South.    On  the  19th  we  broke  camp  and  went  on  cars  to  Baltimore.     On  our 
way  Private  William  H.  G'ifford  of  Company  F  became  very  sick. 

At  Baltimore  the  company  went  on  board  the  steamer  "Pocahontas,"  a  boat 
used  for  carrying  coal.  Our  quarters  were  down  in  the  hold  below  the  water 
line — black,  damp  and  dirty.  The  vessel  groaned  and  creaked  and  we  feared  she 
would  sink,  notwithstanding  we  spread  blankets  down,  and  being  tired,  fell 
asleep,  forgetting  all  danger.  We  arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe  the  21st  and 
marched  to  Camp  Hamilton. 

On  November  24th,  William  H.  Gifford  died  of  typhoid  fever  in  the  hos 
pital  at  Fortress  Monroe  and  was  buried  the  25th  with  military  honors  on  the 
main  land  north  of  the  Fort.  On  December  4th  the  regiment  was  paid  by  Major 
Oakley  for  September  and  October.  Company  F  sent  by  Adams  Express  to 
Equinunk,  Pa.,  $457.50,  and  to  Hancock,  N.  Y.,  $225.50.  'While  in  Camp  Ham 
ilton  the  Fifty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Regiment  arrived,  Colonel  White  commanding 
and  each  company  of  the  Forty-fifth  made  coffee  for  the  corresponding  company 
of  the  Fifty-fifth.  On  December  6th  we  went  on  board  the  steamer  "Cosmo 
politan''  and  started  for  Hilton  Head,  S.  C.,  arriving  the  8th.  On  the  10th,  after 
taking  in  tow  five  large  launches,  each  launch  containing  a  large  cannon,  started 
with  Companies  F,  G,  H,  I  and  K,  on  board  for  St.  Helena  Sound,  20  miles 
north ;  on  arriving  opposite  the  sound,  we  anchored  for  the  night.  On  the  llth 
we  ran  in,  anchored  at  Otter  Island,  and  went  ashore.  There  was  no  wharf, 
but  a  smooth  sandy  beach  extended  out  into  the  water.  The  officers'  horses 
were  unloaded  by  taking  away  a  section  of  the  gunwale  of  the  vessel,  bring 
ing  a  horse  up  in  front  of  the  opening  and  two  men  shoved  the  horse  over 
board.  The  horse  would  go  under  water,  come  up  and  swim  ashore.  We  found 
the  old  ship  "Dale"  and  the  gunboat  "Isaac  Smith"  in  the  harbor.  The  Con 
federates  had  built  a  fort  on  the  island,  but  when  Hilton  Head  was  taken  by 
the  Union  troops  they  bursted  their  cannon  in  the  fort  and  abandoned  the  island. 
We  knew  it  as  Fort  Drayton  and  Company  F  placed  a  guard  on  the  fort,  reliev 
ing  the  marines  from  the  ship  "Dale." 

The  island  was  barren — nothing  but  sand,  some  tall  pines,  swamps,  alligators 
and  negroes.  There  were  about  200  of  the  latter.  Colonel  Welsh  came  with 
this  part  of  the  regiment  while  Lieutenant  Colonel  James  A.  Beaver  and  Com 
panies  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E,  landed  on  Hilton  Head  Island.  The  regimental  band 
came  with  us,  and  when  it  began  to  play  every  darkey,  old  and  young,  began 
jumping  up  and  down,  keeping  time  to  the  music.  The  island  seemed  to  be 
alive.  The  colored  population  kept  increasing  coming  down  the  rivers  during 
the  night  time  in  dug-outs,  and  nearly  every  morning  there  would  be  new  ar 
rivals.  One  young  woman  was  brought  into  camp  with  an  iron  around  her 
ankle,  with  a  short  piece  of  chain  attached.  Zillard  Minard  of  Company  F,  a 
blacksmith,  filed  the  band  off.  In  a  short  time  the  colored  people  were  colonized 
about  one  mile  from  camp  and  huts  built  for  their  accommodation. 

Our  trip  from  Camp  Hamilton  had  been  very  pleasant,  the  weather  being 
fine.  We  were  out  of  sight  of  land  part  of  the  way  and  saw  the  sun  appar 
ently  rise  and  set  in  the  water.  Some  of  the  boys  were  seasick  during  the  trip 
but  were  all  right  after  landing.  A  bath  in  the  Atlantic  was  enjoyed  after  out1 
sea  voyage.  Company  F,  on  December  15th,  started  up  the  Ashepo  River  on  a 
scouting  expedition  in  one  of  the  launches  which  could  hold  100  men.  After 


Formation  of  Company  F  227 

going  about  five  miles  we  landed  on  Fenwick  Island  and  found  it  deserted  by 
the  inhabitants  who  had  left  cotton,  sweet  potatoes,  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and 
swine.  We  returned  to  Otter  Island  bringing  sweet  potatoes  to  Colonel  Welsh. 

On  December  21st  Companies  K  and  F  formed  a  camp  on  Fenwick  Island 
under  command  of  Captain  Rambo  of  Company  K.  We  scouted  all  over  the 
island  which  lay  between  Ashepo  and  South  Edisto  Rivers,  and  separated  from 
the  main  land  by  Mosquito  Creek.  From  the  upper  end  of  the  island  we  saw 
Confederate  pickets  on  the  main  land  across  Mosquito  Creek.  They  occupied 
a  house  as  a  signal  station.  On  the  island  were  several  plantations  and  there 
was  also  a  cotton  gin  and  a  well  of  good  cold  water.  We  remained  on  the  island 
doing  outpost  duty,  living  on  sweet  potatoes,  fresh  pork,  and  lean  beef,  until 
January  29th,  at  which  time  we  returned  to  Otter  Island.  Private  Lewis  M. 
Purdy  of  Company  F,  died  January  3d,  1862,  and  was  buried  on  Otter  Island. 

First  Lieutenant  George  S.  Redfield  was  detailed  on  recruiting  service  Jan 
uary  13th,  and  went  north.  One  company  of  the  Third  Rhode  Island  Heavy 
Artillery  Regiment  had  been  brought  to  Otter  Island  to  mount  the  five  guns 
which  we  had  brought  from  Hilton  Head.  On  February  5th  work  was  begun 
on  the  Fort  building  a  stockade  around  it,  and  for  this  work  a  detail  was 
made  from  Company  F  of  four  men  to  hew  timber,  four  men  to  do  carpenter 
work  and  11  men  to  drive  piling. 

On  Washington's  Birthday  a  salute  was  fired  from  Fort  Drayton,  also  from 
the  vessels  in  the  harbor.  Private  Amos  Slocum  of  Company  F,  died  of  apoplexy 
on  March  21st,  and  was  buried  on  Otter  Island. 

Captain  Charles  E.  Parker  resigned  on  the  24th;  and  on  the  26th  Adjutant 
Theodore  Gregg,  a  Mexican  War  soldier,  was  promoted  to  captain  of  Company 
F,  and  after  taking  command  appointed  the  writer  company  clerk.  The  steamer 
"Planter,"  which  was  run  out  of  Charleston  Harbor  by  the  colored  engineer 
during  the  dinner  hour,  made  the  first  stop  at  Otter  Island  and  was  sent  to  Hil 
ton  Head. 

We  received  our  mail  from  Hilton  Head,  20  miles  distant,  by  rowboat,  with 
four  or  six  colored  men  at  the  oars.  Water  was  procured  for  coffee  at  Otter 
Island  by  digging  a  hole  in  the  sand  about  five  or  six  feet  deep  and  sinking 
a  barrel  with  both  heads  out.  The  water  was  very  brackish.  On  April  6th 
Company  F  was  ordered  to  Fenwick  Island,  and  on  the  14th  First  Lieutenant 
George  S.  Redfield  resigned,  and  Second  Lieutenant  George  P.  Scudder  was 
promoted  to  his  place.  Orderly  Sergeant  James  E.  Woodmansee  was  promoted 
second  lieutenant  and  Corporal  Nathan  D.  Guile  promoted  to  orderly  sergeant. 
Sergeant  Guile  wrote  a  peculiar  hand,  nearly  perpendicular.  One  morning  he 
made  out  a  list  of  sick  and  took  it  with  the  sick  to  the  assistant  surgeon,  Theo-* 
dore  S.  Christ.  The  doctor  looked  at  the  list  a  moment  and  then  exclaimed: 
"I  can't  read  music." 

On  Fenwick  Island  we  occupied  some  buildings  near  a  cotton  gin  not  far 
from  Mosquito  Creek.  A  gunshot  at  night  was  the  signal  for  the  company  to 
form  under  a  large  white  oak  tree  near  our  quarters.  One  night  a  gun  was 
fired  on  the  picket  line.  The  company  at  once  fell  in  and  soon  all  the  pickets 
came  running  to  the  large  oak  tree.  Private  Becraft  came  also  with  end  of 
first  finger  of  right  hand  shot  off.  Another  night  while  at  this  place  our  pickets 
heard  a  noise  in  a  building  near  the  mouth  of  Mosquito  Creek,  and  one  of  them 


228     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

fired  at  what  he  supposed  to  be  a  man.  The  firing  brought  the  company  and 
the  pickets  under  the  large  tree.  We  soon  heard  the  tramp  of  feet,  and  Lieu 
tenant  Scudder  went  forward  challeging,  "Who  comes  there?"  The  answer 
revealed  Colonel  Welsh  with  an  armed  company  as  escort.  They  had  come 
from  Otter  Island  and  expected  to  find  us  napping  or  not  on  the  alert.  Mos 
quito  Creek  is  well  named ;  at  night  our  pickets  were  compelled  to  cover  their 
faces  and  hands  for  protection  from  mosquitoes.  Each  soldier  was  provided  a 
mosquito  frame  to  sleep  under. 

The  white  inhabitants  had  all  left  the  island.  On  May  20th  the  company 
was  ordered  to  Otter  Island,  and  the  next  day  the  five  companies  went  in 
launches  to  Edisto  Island.  After  landing  we  marched  eight  miles  and  en 
camped  six  miles  from  General  Wright's  headquarters,  which  place  we  reached 
on  the  22d  and  remained  until  June  1st. 

On  June  2d  we  crossed  the  North  Edisto  River  on  the  steamer  "Planter" 
and  encamped  on  Johns  Island.  The  rain  fell  for  three  days,  the  tide  rose  high 
and  overflowed  our  camp  in  the  night,  and  we  were  compelled  to  seek  higher 
ground.  On  the  5th  we  marched  12  miles  in  the  rain  across  Johns  Island!,  ar 
riving  at  Legreeville  on  the  Stono  River  at  night.  Here  we  first  saw  Confederate 
prisoners;  two  were  brought  into  camp. 

On  June  9th  the  steamer  "Mattano"  landed  us  at  G'rimball's  plantation  on 
James  Island.  The  next  day  Company  F  went  on  picket  quite  near  the  enemy, 
who  in  the  afternoon  attempted  to  capture  some  of  our  pickets,  but  was  re 
pulsed.  Their  commander,  Captain  Williams,  was  mortally  wounded  and  cap 
tured  ;  he  had  seven  wounds  and  died  soon  after  being  captured.  Captain  Hills, 
with  Companies  H  and  I,  rendered  good  service,  and  saved  our  pickets. 

The  battle  of  Secessionville  occurred  June  16th,  and  our  battalion  was  irt 
General  Wright's  division,  under  fire  but  not  engaged.  We  remained  on  James 
Island  until  July  2d,  when  we  went  on  board  the  steamer  "Ben  Duford'"  about 
10  A.  M.  and  arrived  at  Hilton  Head  at  4  P.  M.  On  July  9th  we  were  reviewed 
by  General  Williams  near  Fort  Walker.  It  was  a  hot  day  and  several  men 
dropped  in  the  ranks  from  the  effects  of  the  heat. 

On  July  llth  we  moved  camp  to  Elliott's  plantation,  four  miles  from  Hilton 
Head.  Companies  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E  joined  us  on  the  12th,  and  the  regiment 
was  united  once  more.  The  next  day  being  Sunday,  all  attended  services  by 
our  chaplain.  We  received  pay  while  here  to  July  1st,  and  on  the  17th  received 
orders  to  go  north.  We  marched  to  Hilton  Head  and  encamped  on  the  long 
wharf,  and  on  the  18th  the  regiment  went  on  board  the  steamer  "Arago,"  and 
left  the  wharf  at  12  :30  P.  M.  The  weather  was  mild  while  passing  Cape  Hat- 
teras,  and  on  the  20th  we  anchored  at  Fortress  Monroe  and  the  next  day  landed 
at  Newport  News,  Va.,  where  we  saw  the  masts  of  the  "Cumberland,"  which 
had  been  sunk  by  the  "Merrimac,"  sticking  out  of  the  water. 

Second  Lieutenant  James  E.  Woodmansee  of  Company  F  resigned  the  22d 
and  started  for  home.  On  the  4th  of  August  we  embarked  on  board  the  "Elm 
City"  and  landed  at  Acquia  Creek,  Va.,  the  following  day.  On  the  6th  we  went 
on  cars  to  Camp  Wright  at  Brookes  Station.  This  was  a  delightful  camp4  with' 
plenty  of  shade  and  good  water.  On  the  3d  of  September  we  went  to  Acquia 
Creek,  and  after  burning  all  the  buildings,  embarked  on  board  the  steamer  "Ex 
press"  for  Washington,  D.  C.  We  marched  through  Washington  on  the  7th  on 


Formation  of  Company  F  229 

our  \vay  to  meet  General  Lee,  who  with  the  Confederate  Army,  had  crossed 
the  Potomac  into  Maryland.  On  the  13th  we  marched  through  Frederick  while 
our  drum  corps  played  Yankee  Doodle.  We  marched  through  Middletown  on 
the  14th  and  up  South  Mountain,  and  became  engaged  with  the  enemy  near  the 
place  where  General  Reno  was  killed.  Colonel  Welsh  commanded  our  Brigade 
and  General  O.  B.  Wilcox  the  Division.  Lieutenant  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin  com 
manded  our  regiment  which  was  armed  with  Harpers  Ferry  muskets,  carrying 
a  large  ball  and  three  buckshots  and  in  close  action  were  very  destructive.  In 
the  terrific  battle  Company  F  lost  Private  James  Kurd,  killed,  and  Captain 
Gregg,  Orderly  Sergeant  N.  D.  Guile,  Sergeant  Depuy  Teeple,  Corporal  Isaac 
W.  Cole,  Privates  James  Kennedy  and  Wesley  Gould,  wounded.  The  regiment 
lost  136  men  killed  and  wounded.  There  were  21  or  more  dead  of  our  regi 
ment  buried  in  a  trench  under  a  large  chestnut  tree  in  a  field  just  back  of  the 
battle  line.  During  the  fight  our  drum  corps  was  under  the  chestnut  tree  men 
tioned,  near  the  temporary  field  hospital.  A  large  limb  was  cut  off  by  one  of 
the  enemy's  shots  and  fell  on  the  bass  drum.  During  the  thickest  of  the  fight 
General  O.  B.  Wilcox  sat  on  his  horse  like  a  statue  while  the  shots  of  the 
enemy  cut  the  rails  of  the  fence  behind  him  into  slivers.  He  had  sent  his  aides 
to  places  of  safety.  The  enemy  was  driven  from  the  crest  of  the  mountain;,' 
leaving  the  dead  unburied.  The  next  day  we  marched  toward  Antietam  Greek* 
over  the  battlefield  in  our  front,  and  we  often  stepped  aside  to  avoid  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  enemy  that  by  this  time  had  turned  black.  We  halted  near  An* 
tietam  Creek  and  remained  until  the  17th.  On  the  16th  a  reporter  for  the  New 
York  "Tribune"  came  to  Colonel  Welsh's  headquarters,  and  the  colonel  kicked 
him  out  of  camp.  In  the  "Tribune"  of  the  15th  our  regiment  had  been  reported 
the  Forty-fifth  New  York  instead  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania,  and  Colonel 
Welsh  was  very  angry. 

On  the  17th  we  were  moved  toward  the  left  to  support  a  battery  on  the  east 
side  of  Antietam  Creek.  Late  in  the  afternoon  Colonel  Hartranft's  brigade 
forced  the  now  famous  Burnside  Bridge.  Colonel  Welsh's  brigade  was  the  sec 
ond  one  to  cross.  We  formed  in  line  on  the  west  bank  of  the  creek,  under  a 
steep  hill.  Then  we  charged  forward  from  hill  to  hollow  where  we  would  rest 
for  a  short  time,  and  then  forward  again  until  we  came  near  the  old  mill.  General 
Stonewall  Jackson  arriving  at  this  time  from  Harpers  Ferry  with  his  corps,  the 
regiment  was  compelled  to  fall  back  to  Antietam  Creek  where  we  remained  until 
the  19th.  When  we  were  crossing  the  bridge  the  enemy's  grape  shot  was  rip 
ping  the  covering  from  the  battlements  on  either  side  of  the  bridge.  One  mem 
ber  of  Company  H  was  wounded  soon  after  crossing  and  was  carried  on  a 
stretcher  back  over  the  bridge  to  the  field  hospital,  and  while  recrossing  ,the 
bridge  the  man  on  the  stretcher  was  struck  by  a  piece  of  shell  that  exploded 
overhead.  One  of  the  most  ghastly  sights  we  beheld  during  the  war  was  at 
this  field  hospital.  A  heap  of  amputated  arms  and  legs  thrown  together,  as 
many  as  100,  produced  a  feeling  of  horror. 

We  remained  quiet  on  the  18th.  Our  regiment  lay  at  the  mouth  of  a  ravine 
extending  up  to  the  old  mill  mentioned  before,  and  all  day  long  some  one  kept 
firing  down  this  ravine  from  the  old  mill.  On  the  19th  we  advanced  through 
Sharpsburg.  The  enemy  had  gone,  crossing  the  Potomac  while  the  Union  Army 
lay  quiet  on  the  18th.  The  battlefield  was  covered  with  dead  men  and  horses. 


230     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

The  Confederates  did  not  stop  to  bury  their  dead.  In  passing  the  old  mill  we 
took  the  miller  prisoner.  He  was  an  old  man  and  we  having  no  proof  that  he 
did  the  shooting,  he  was  set  at  liberty. 

In  the  Battle  of  Antietam,  Company  F  had  Sergeant  Wesley  Gould,  Corporal 
Loren  A.  Webster,  Privates  Ellis  P.  Hotelling,  Daniel  C.  Warren,  Austin  Rice 
and  Obadiah  Palmer  wounded,  the  last  two  each  lost  a  leg.  We  encamped  near 
Sharpsburg  until  the  26th  when  we  moved  to  Antietam  Iron  Works.  Company 
F  left  a  detail  at  Sharpsburg  to  help  bury  the  dead.  After  the  Battle  of  Antietam 
our  regimental  band  was  mustered  out  of  service.  On  October  7th  we  marched 
over  the  mountain  into  Pleasant  Valley  and  encamped. 

The  Thirty-sixth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers  joined  us  here  and 
were  attached  to  Colonel  Welsh's  brigade.  The  regiment  on  October  llth  went 
by  rail  from  Knoxville,  Md.,  to  Frederick,  to  intercept  the  Confederate  General 
J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  who  had  crossed  into  Maryland.  We  arrived  in  the  city  'during 
the  night,  and  when  the  citizens  woke  up  the  next  morning  they  were  not  a 
little  surprised.  General  Stuart  avoided  the  city  of  Frederick  this  time.  We  re 
turned  to  Pleasant  Valley  on  the  15th,  having  marched  from  Frederick. 

We  broke  up  camp  on  October  26th,  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Berlin,  and 
marched  through  the  rain  to  Lovettsville,  Va.  The  next  day  Company  F  was 
detailed  on  picket  duty.  On  the  29th  we  marched  to  Waterford  where  the  mus 
ter  and  pay  rolls  were  made  out.  We  then  marched  along  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  through  Philomont  and  Rectortown  near  Manassas  Gap ;  then 
through  Orleans  to  Waterloo  where  we  arrived  on  the  7th  and  remained  untif 
the  15th.  We  then  started  for  Fredericksburg  in  a  race  with  the  enemy.  They 
were  on  the  south  side  of  the  Rappahannock,  and  we  \vere  on  the  north.  We 
marched  through  Sulphur  Springs,  Warrenton  Junction,  Elktown,  and  arrived 
at  Falmouth  Station  opposite  Fredericksburg  on  the  19th.  Company  F  was  de 
tailed  to  picket  duty.  We  out-marched  the  enemy,  but  had  no  bridge  to  crdss 
the  river.  The  pontoons  did  not  arrive  for  several  days.  The  Battle  of  Fred 
ericksburg  commenced  December  llth.  One  hundred  cannon  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Rappahannock  River  opened  fire.  Not  a  house  in  the  city  could 
be  seen  all  day  owing  to  a  dense  fog.  On  the  12th  the  regiment  crossed  Ion 
a  boat  bridge  opposite  the  city  which  had  been  laid  under  fire  by  the  Fiitieth 
New  York  Engineers  in  the  early  morning.  Several  bullet  holes  had  been  shot 
through  the  boats  and  some  men  were  working  with  bandages  over  their  wounds. 
The  regiment  was  stationed  in  the  city  near  the  river.  There  was  heavy  fight 
ing  on  our  right  and  left  during  the  13th.  Our  regiment  was  under  fire  but 
not  engaged,  only  three  men  in  the  regiment  were  wounded.  We  recrossed  the 
river  at  midnight  of  the  loth.  The  bridge  was  covered  with  boughs  to  prevent 
any  noise  made  by  our  artillery  and  ammunition  wagons  being  heard  by  the 
enemy.  We  returned  to  our  old  camp  where  we  remained  until  February  10th, 
1863,  when  we  went  to  Acquia  Creek  and  there  boarded  the  steamer  "John  A. 
Warner"  and  started  down  the  Potomac  on  the  morning  of  the  llth,  and  the  next 
day  anchored  in  Hampton  Roads.  They  were  a  jolly  lot  of  boys  on  this  trip. 

On  the  13th  we  landed  at  Newport  News  and  began  building  log  cabins  for 
winter  quarters.  Colonel  Welsh  was  promoted  brigadier  general  on  the  15th,  and 
Lieutenant  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin  to  colonel.  On  the  20th  snow  fell  one  foot 
deep,  and  on  the  22d  we  broke  camp  and  went  on  board  the  steamer  "Mary 


Formation  of  Company  F  231 

Washington,"  which  took  us  to  Baltimore,  Md.  From  there  we  went  on  cars  to 
Parkersburg  on  the  Ohio  River  and  then  were  put  on  board  the  stern  wheel 
steamer  "La  Crosse/'  and  steamed  down  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati.  We  crossed  the 
river  to  Covington,  Ky.,  by  boat  as  there  was  no  bridge.  General  Grant's  father 
was  postmaster  at  Covington.  We  went  via  the  Kentucky  Central  railroad  to 
Paris,  Ky.,  and  encamped  in  the  fair  grounds  on  March  28th. 

Paris  is  the  county  seat  of  Bourbon  County,  a  prosperous  town  in  the  midst 
of  a  good  agricultural  section.  We  found  the  people  kind  and  loyal.  Provisions 
were  plenty  and  cheap;  butter  15  cents  a  pound  and  eggs  ten  cents  per  dozen', 
and  everything  else  in  proportion.  We  received  four  months'  pay  on  the  1st  of 
April,  and  with  plenty  of  money  and  provisions  cheap,  Uncle  Sam's  rations 
were  at  a  discount.  We  went  on  cars  to  Nicholasville  on  April  10th  and 
marched  to  Camp  Dick  Robinson,  arriving  the  llth.  Camp  Dick  Robinson  is  a 
delightful  place,  in  a  grove  of  large  trees,  the  surface  level  and  an  ideal  place 
for  a  camp.  While  here  the  officers  of  the  regiment  presented  Colonel  Curtin 
with  a  horse. 

A.  Girod,  the  fifer  of  Company  A,  could  play  the  guitar,  so  the  officers  sub 
scribed  money  to  buy  one.,  An  ambulance  was  provided  and  four  of  the  drum 
corps  went  to  Danville  and  secured  a  guitar.  While  we  were  looking  around 
Danville  some  ladies  of  the  woman's  college  beckoned  us  over  to  the  building, 
invited  us  in  and  introduced  us  to  the  principal.  We  were  shown  around  the 
buildings,  and  before  the  school  was  dismissed,  taken  into  the  school  room. 
A  lady  presided  at  the  piano  and  when  a  signal  was  given  the  scholars  all  arose 
and  marched  out  keeping  step  to  the  music.  After  dismissal  the  young  lady 
played  and  sang  for  our  special  benefit.  We  learned  that  some  of  the  teachers 
were  from  Massachusetts  and  informed  them  that  the  Thirty-sixth  Massa 
chusetts  Regiment  was  at  our  camp.  The  next  Saturday  they  drove  to  our 
camp  to  see  friends  they  had  in  that  regiment. 

At  Camp  Dick  Robinson  we  found  a  number  of  refugees  from  Tennessee. 
One  old  man,  Mr.  Markham  and  his  two  daughters,  had  been  forced  to  leave 
their  home  in  Tennessee.  One  of  the  girls  had  a  large  scar  on  her  neck  made 
by  a  Rebel  bayonet.  The  officers  of  our  brigade  contributed  a  purse  for  this 
family.  Mr.  Markham  placed  his  two  daughters  with  friends  and  started  back 
with  us  to  Tennessee,  carrying  a  Burnside  rifle.  Before  leaving  Camp  Dick 
Robinson  Company  F  boxed  up  their  overcoats  and  sent  them  to  Cincinnati. 
Our  muster  and  pay  rolls  were  made  out  the  29th,  and  on  the  30th  we  broke 
camp  and  marched  to  Stanford,  17  miles.  It  was  a  very  warm  day  and  every 
soldier  had  his  knapsack  well  filled.  At  the  first  stop  for  rest  the  boys  began 
to  unload,  casting  their  superfluous  clothing  in  the  road1.  Two  men  passing  in 
a  buggy  were  completely  covered,  horse  and  all,  with  clothing  and  blankets. 

On  May  1st  we  marched  to  Hustonville.  Company  F  hired  a  farmer  and 
team  to  haul  its  knapsacks.  On  the  2d  we  marched  to  Middleburg  and  returned 
to  Hustonville  on  the  llth.  At  this  place  we  had  a  delightful  camp  in  a  shady 
grove.  On  May  19th  the  citizens  gave  the  rank  and  file  of  the  regiment  a  picnic, 
supplying  tables  well  loaded  with  good  things.  Our  officers  did  picket  duty  dur 
ing  the  day.  The  officers  were  entertained  in  the  evening  with  refreshments 
and  a  dance.  It  was  quite  a  contrast  between  our  soldiering  here  and  the 


232     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

soldiering  we  did  later  in  front  of  Petersburg.  We  were  visited  here  by  Colonel 
Wolford  of  the  First  Kentucky  Cavalry,  and  Colonel  Fry,  the  man  who  shot 
Zollicoffer.  Each  delivered  an  address. 

On  May  23d  we  marched  to  Liberty  and  from  there  to  Columbia,  and  on  the 
30th  reached  Jamestown.  The  inhabitants  called  it  "Jimtown."  We  were  en 
camped  on  a  hill  near  the  town,  and  one  morning  early  a  company  of  Confed 
erate  cavalry  dashed  past  our  pickets  and  came  in  sight  of  our  camp.  The  long 
roll  was  sounded  and  the  enemy  discovering  our  camp,  made  haste  to  get  away. 
One  of  their  number  was  captured,  his  horse  having  been  injured. 

We  soon  received  orders  to  go  to  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  and  started  on  June 
4th.  Marching  through  Columbia  and  Campbellville,  we  arrived  at  Lebanon  the 
6th,  and  received  two  months'  pay  on  the  7th. 

We  went  by  rail  to  Louisville,  crossed  the  Ohio  River,  and  took  cars  north 
to  Seymour,  Ind.,  where  we  changed  cars  and  went  west  to  Sandoval,  111.,  and 
then  south,  reaching  Cairo  in  the  night.  All  along  the  route  people  came  from 
both  sides  of  the  railroad  to  see  the  troops  pass.  The  weather  was  fine,  and  we 
sometimes  rode  on  top  of  the  cars.  The  young  ladies  along  the  road  had  pre 
pared  bouquets  with  cards  attached,  having  names  and  addresses  requesting  the 
soldiers  receiving  them  to  write.  After  our  arrival  in  Mississippi  many  of  the 
boys  wrote  to  girls  in  Indiana  and  Illinois. 

One  day  in  East  Tennessee  an  officer  came  to  our  camp  who  said  he  was 
Captain  Jack  of  some  Indiana  regiment  who  had  just  escaped  being  captured 
near  Cumberland  Gap.  He  asked  for  Captain  Trout,  who  at  that  time  was  on 
picket  duty  away  from  camp.  So  Captain  Jack  said  to  me :  "Tell  Captain  Trout 
that  he  is  corresponding  with  my  sister  in  Little  Washington,  Ind." 

At  Cairo  Company  F  and  the  regiment  went  on  board  the  steamer  "Sally 
List,"  and  started  down  the  Mississippi  River,  reaching  Memphis,  Tenn.,  the 
llth.  We  went  on  shore  and  encamped  near  the  city.  Our  duties  were  light, 
so  we  practiced  the  manual  of  arms  by  the  tap  of  the  drum,  no  commands  being 
given.  On  the  17th  we  started  on  our  journey  down  the  river,  and!  stopped 
for  the  night  at  the  mouth  of  White  River,  Ark.  The  next  day  we  ran  to  Lake 
Providence,  and  tied  up  for  the  night.  On  the  19th  we  touched  at  Young's  Point, 
La.,  and  then  ran  up  the  Yazoo  River  to  Haines  Bluff,  Miss.,  landed  and  marched 
to  Milldale,  where  we  encamped. 

Two  divisions  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  had  been  sent  to  Vicksburg  to  pro 
tect  General  Grant  from  a  rear  attack  by  Confederate  General  J.  E.  Johnston, 
who  was  gathering  an  army  to  relieve  General  Pemberton,  so  we  were  placed 
in  rear  of  Vicksburg,  where  we  dug  rifle  pits  and  built  breastworks  facing  ea&t. 

On  July  4th,  with  the  news  of  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg,  we  received  or 
ders  to  pack  up  and  marched  eight  miles  toward  the  Big  Black  River,  whi'ch 
we  crossed  on  the  7th  and  marched  in  the  rain  until  9  P.  M.  Between  Vicksburg 
and  Jackson  we  passed  Joe  Davis'  plantation  and  halted  to  rest  opposite  the 
house.  (Mr.  Davis  was  a  brother  of  the  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy). 
Several  soldiers  went  into  the  house  which  had  been  deserted  by  its  occupants, 
and  found  books  and  other  things  scattered  over  the  floor.  One  soldier  was  play 
ing  the  piano  and  others  were  looking  at  their  reflection  in  the  large  mirrors. 
After  proceeding  a  short  distance  Lieutenant  Scndder,  who  had  been  reading  a 


Formation  of  Company  F  233 

book  while  resting,  found  that  he  had  left  his  blouse.  He  sent  one  of  his  com 
pany  back  to  get  it,  saying  to  him,  "Don't  set  that  house  on  fire."  After  the  man, 
with  the  blouse,  joined  us  our  attention  was  called  to  a  volume  of  black  smoke 
in  the  rear,  and  looking  back  we  saw  Davis'  house  in  flames. 

The  weather  was  extremely  warm,  the  men  carrying  only  one-half  of  a 
shelter  tent,  a  rubber  blanket,  canteen  and  haversack.  Water  was  scarce  and 
difficult  to  get.  The  enemy  had  driven  cattle  in  places  where  there  was  water 
and  shot  them,  making  the  water  unfit  to  drink.  The  inhabitants  had  taken 
everything  from  the  wells  along  the  route,  so  we  tied  strings  together  and  tied  a 
cup  or  pail  on  the  string  to  get  water  from  the  wells.  One  woman  was  very  bit 
ter  against  the  Yanks.  She  said  "Lee  is  giving  it  to  you  'uns  in  Pennsylvania." 
None  of  us  thought  that  General  Lee  was  in  Pennsylvania.  How  this  woman 
knew  we  could  not  tell.  It  took  two  weeks  for  letters  from  Pennsylvania  to 
reach  us.  Our  mules,  after  going  into  camp,  often  would  cry  for  water  so  that 
sleep  was  almost  impossible. 

Sometimes  we  marched  until  midnight  as  the  evenings  were  cooler.  Along 
side  of  the  road  was  a  rail  fence  with  stakes  and  riders.  While  marching  at 
night  we  often  passed  soldiers  stretched  out  on  top  of  the  riders  eight  feet  above 
the  ground  with  their  haversacks  for  a  pillow  and  covered  over  with  their  rub 
ber  blankets.  They  were  out  of  the  reach  of  snakes  and  other  reptiles.  On  the 
10th  of  July  we  passed  the  insane  asylum,  and  when  about  three  miles  from 
Jackson  a  line  of  battle  was  formed.  Our  regiment  was  formed  in  front  as 
skirmishers  and  drove  the  enemy  about  two  miles.  On  July  llth  our  regiment 
was  still  on  the  skirmish  line.  Sergeant  Richard  Humphrey  had  been  promoted 
to  second  lieutenant  of  our  company.  He  had  shoulder  straps  on  his  blouse  and 
used  a  bayonet  in  place  of  a  sword.  During  the  day  Sergeant  Lewis  F.  Hill  of 
Company  F  was  severely  wounded  in  the  shoulder  resulting  in  his  death  on  the 
14th.  Lieutenant  Humphrey  went  back  to  a  house  in  the  rear  of  the  line  where 
the  drum  corps  was,  to  get  some  of  them  to  carry  Sergeant  Hill  to  the  hospital. 
The  writer  went  with  Drummer  J.  H.  Guile  and  two  others,  out  to  the  skirmish 
line.  We  placed  Sergeant  Hill  on  a  stretcher  and  started  for  the  rear.  Lieutenant 
Humphrey  passed  on  to  the  front,  expecting  to  find  his  company,  and  talked 
with  me  as  he  went  forward.  While  Lieutenant  Humphrey  was  absent  from  his 
company  the  regiment  received  orders  to  move  by  the  right  flank.  Six  com 
panies  on  the  right  of  the  regiment  received  the  order  and  obeyed  while  the  four 
companies  on  the  left  remained  in  their  places,  not  having  heard  the  order.  This 
left  a  gap  where  Company  F  had  been  when  Lieutenant  Humphrey  went  to  the 
rear.  Our  skirmishers  had  been  pressing  the  enemy  back  all  day,  and  the  lieu 
tenant  no  doubt  thought  the  company  and  regiment  had  advanced  and  so  went 
forward.  He  came  to  an  open  space  in  the  woods,  near  the  enemy's  pickets, 
which  were  behind  a  low  bank,  and  some  trees,  and  was  shot  in  the  forehead 
and  killed  instantly.  On  the  14th  a  flag  of  truce  for  two  hours  was  announced, 
and  Lieutenant  Scndder  and  the  writer  went  over  to  the  enemy's  lines  and 
talked  with  the  major  of  a  Mississippi  regiment,  who  said  that  a  dead  body  lay 
between  the  lines,  and  that  the  man  might  have  been  captured  as  he  was  appar 
ently  unarmed  and  alone.  We  went  to  the  dead  body,  found  it  to  be  Lieutenant 
Humphrey,  and  procuring  shovels,  dug  a  trench  alongside  the  body,  pulled  it  in 
and  hastily  covered  it  while  the  pickets  of  the  enemy  stood  only  a  short  distance 


234     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

away  watching  us.  The  truce  having  already  expired  we  made  haste  to  our 
lines,  and  firing  immediately  began. 

Jackson  was  evacuated  on  the  17th  and  we  started  for  the  city.  A  board 
marked  with  name,  company  and  regiment  was  placed  at  Lieutenant  Humphrey's 
grave.  We  marched  into  the  city  and  placed  our  regimental  flag  on  top  of  the 
State  Capitol,  and  then  marched  12  miles  north  toward  Canton. 

On  the  18th  we  destroyed  the  railroad  at  Tugalo  and  burned  the  station. 
We  marched  back  to  Jackson  on  the  19th  and  the  next  day  started  for  Vicks- 
burg.  We  reached  the  Big  Black  River  and  crossed  on  the  22d.  Savillion  Davall 
of  Company  F,  who  was  sick  when  we  left  Jackson,  died  in  an  ambulance  and 
was  buried  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  We  arrived  at  our  old  camp  near 
Milldale  at  noon  of  the  23d,  having  marched  15  miles  since  morning.  A  large 
number  of  the  regiment  were  sick  with  chills  and  fever. 

About  August  1st  orders  were  received  to  go  north.  On  the  4th  we  marched 
to  the  landing,  and  on  the  5th  our  whole  brigade,  including  DurelPs  Battery  went 
on  board  the  side  wheel  steamer  "Hiawatha"  and  started  up  the  river  in  the 
evening.  We  arrived  at  Cairo,  111.,  on  the  10th;  then  went  on  cars  at  midnight 
and  arrived  at  Cincinnati,  O.,  on  the  evening  of  the  12th.  We  crossed  the  river 
to  Covington,  Ky.,  and  went  into  camp,  and  on  the  18th  received  two  months' 
pay. 

George  Schermerhorn  of  Company  F  had  been  detailed  as  teamster  in  di 
vision  quartermaster's  department  (Captain  Austin  Curtin),  and  was  present 
and  signed  the  pay  roll  on  August  17th,  but  when  the  company  was  paid  he 
could  not  be  found.  Captain  Gregg  sent  his  pay  to  his  wife  at  Equinunk,  Pa. 
The  man  has  never  been  heard  from  since.  It  is  thought  that  he  was  murdered 
in  Covington,  Ky.  While  we  were  encamped  near  Covington,  Brigadier  Gen 
eral  Thomas  Welsh  died  in  Cincinnati,  O.,  on  August  14th,  1863.  We  broke 
camp  and  went  on  cars  to  Nicholasville  and  encamped  for  a  few  days,  and  while 
at  this  camp  Private  John  Campbell  of  Company  F  died  and  was  buried  in  a 
churchyard  at  Nicholasville,  Ky. 

We  soon  resumed  our  march  through  Camp  Dick  Robinson  and  Lancaster, 
arriving  at  Crab  Orchard  on  the  29th.  On  the  10th  of  September  we  marched 
to  Mount  Vernon,  Ky.  The  citizens  had  raised  the  American  flag  with  the  blue 
field  down,  and  after  we  had  passed  Colonel  Curtin  sent  back  word  to  reverse 
their  flag.  We  marched  through  Wild  Cat,  crossing  the  Rock  Castle  through 
London  and  Barboursville  to  the  Cumberland  River  where  we  received  pay  for 
July  and  August.  Before  reaching  Cumberland  -Gap  we  met  about  2,000  Con 
federate  prisoners  who  had  been  captured  there.  On  the  20th  we  marched 
through  Cumberland  Gap,  then  through  Tazewell,  Tenn.,  and  crossed  the  Powell 
River  on  a  bridge.  We  waded  the  Clinch  and  Holston  Rivers  and  marching 
through  Morristown,  we  reached  Knoxville  the  26th. 

On  October  3d  we  went  on  cars  to  Bull's  Gap,  and  marched  to  Blue  Springs 
or  Midway  Station,  where  on  the  10th  we  fought  and  defeated  the  enemy  under 
command  of  "MudwalP  Jackson.  Christopher  Teeple  and  Zephaniah  Worden 
of  Company  F  were  wounded  in  the  engagement.  We  followed  the  enemy 
through  Greenville,  Tenn.,  where  we  saw  Andrew  Johnson's  tailor  shop.  We  re 
turned  to  Midway  Station,  took  cars  to  Knoxville,  and  on  the  20th  started  for 
Louden. 


Formation  of  Company  F  235 

At  Louden,  on  October  31,  Company  F  was  detailed  to  go  to  Lenoir's  steam 
sawmill  for  the  purpose  of  sawing  lumber  for  a  boat  bridge.  Company  F  furnished 
all  the  mechanics  required,  except  two  engineers  who  were  sent  from  another 
regiment.  We  began  work  at  the  mill  on  November  1st.  There  was  a  forest 
of  large  pine  trees  on  the  property,  which  were  cut  down  and  made  into  logs ; 
ox  teams  were  pressed  into  service  to  haul  the  logs  to  the  mill,  where  they  were 
sawed  into  plank  for  the  bridge. 

A  feed  mill  was  attached  to  the  sawmill  which  was  used  for  grinding  corn 
and  feed.  The  nearby  inhabitants  brought  small  grists  of  corn  to  be  ground  into 
meal.  Captain  Gregg  placed  the  writer  in  charge  of  this  mill.  One  day  an  old 
man  came  to  the  mill  with  a  bag  of  corn  and  insisted  on  having  it  ground  while 
others  who  had  preceded  him  should  wait.  He  was  informed  that  he  must  wait 
his  turn.  The  writer  learned  from  Captain  Gregg  afterward  that  the  old  man 
was  Mr.  Lenoir,  the  owner  of  the  property. 

The  bridge,  800  feet  long,  was  finished  on  the  13th  and  laid  across  the  Ten 
nessee  River.  General  Longstreet  had  been  sent  by  General  Bragg  to  drive  Gen 
eral  Burnside  out  of  Tennessee.  Longstreet  had  crossed  the  Tennessee  below 
Louden,  sd  the  bridge  was  destroyed  and  Company  F  ordered  to  join  the  regi 
ment  below  Louden. 

Lieutenant  Scudder  had  been  detailed  assistant  provost  marshall  of  First 
Brigade,  First  Division,  Ninth  Army  Corps,  and  Captain  Gregg  of  Company  F 
had  left  the  mill  a  few  days  before  with  an  ox  team  load  for  Knoxville.  So 
Company  F  was  in  command  of  Orderly  Sergeant  A.  D.  Campbell.  After  leaving 
the  mill  on  our  way  to  join  the  regiment  General  Burnside  passed,  and  taking 
us  for  stragglers,  did  some  scolding.  We  did  not  answer  the  general  but  kept 
on  and  joined  the  regiment  below  Louden.  The  enemy  was  crossing  the  river 
below  and  we  were  ordered  back  to  Lenoir  Station.  The  roads  were  very  muddy 
and  the  wheels  of  the  artillery  (Lieutenant  Benjamin's  32  pounders),  sank  so 
deep  in  the  mud  that  the  soldiers  took  hold  of  the  traces  to  help  pull  them  out. 

At  Lenoir's  Station  the  regiment  formed  in  line  of  battle  on  the  crest  of  a 
ridge,  and  sent  out  pickets,  which  soon  came  in  contact  with  those  of  the  enemy, 
which  was  heard  during  the  early  part  of  the  night  forming  camp  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  ridge.  During  the  night  our  regimental  quartermaster  destroyed 
books,  provisions  and  everything  that  would  prevent  haste,  and  just  before  day 
light  the  regiment  started  for  Knoxville  with  the  enemy  following  closely.  We 
made  a  stand  at  Campbells  Station  and  held  the  enemy  until  night,  and  then  un 
der  cover  of  darkness  retreated  to  Knoxville,  where  at  day  light  of  the  17th  Com 
pany  F  was  sent  to  support  the  Second  New  York  Battery  at  the  Seminary.  The 
next  day  we  made  holes  for  rifles  in  a  large  brick  house  on  the  west  side  of  town, 
owned  by  a  Mr.  Powell,  who  claimed  to  be  loyal  and  expected  to  be  remunerated 
by  the  U.  S.  Government.  The  next  two  days  we  were  on  the  skirmish  line  near 
the  river  below  the  city,  and  between  the  lines  some  distance  to  our  right  stood  a 
house  occupied  by  Rebel  sharp  shooters  whose  shots  annoyed  our  troops.  One 
evening  after  dark  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  charged  and  drove  them  out  setting 
the  house  on  fire,  and  while  the  house  was  burning  the  enemy  shelled  our  lines. 

During  the  siege  we  were  put  on  quarter  rations.  Our  bread,  made  of  bran, 
was  black  and  heavy,  and  as  we  could  buy  but  little  food  of  the  citizens  we  some 
times  went  hungry. 


236     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

All  the  trees  had  been  cut  down  in  front  of  the  line  of  breastworks,  with 
their  stumps  left  about  two  feet  high,  and  telegraph  wires  stretched  from  stump 
to  stump  in  every  direction. 

On  November  29th  a  picked  division  of  Longstreet's  men  charged  on  Fort 
Sanders  at  daylight,  and  was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss,  while  the  Union  loss  was 
light.  Our  regiment  was  some  distance  to  the  left  of  this  fort  and  was  not  en 
gaged.  The  writer  went  over  to  the  fort  after  the  engagement  and  saw  numbers 
of  Confederate  dead  laying  among  the  wires  stretched  to  trip  them.  It  was  a  very 
cold,  frosty  morning  and  nearly  all  were  bare-footed.  A  truce  was  obtained  to 
bury  the  dead  and  exchange  prisoners,  and  during  this  truce  two  picket  lines 
were  shaking  hands  and  exchanging  pocket-knives  and  tobacco. 

On  December  5th  the  enemy  withdrew  from  our  front,  and  we  followed  them 
the  7th,  arriving  at  Rutledge  on  the  9th.  While  in  Knoxville  we  were  on  short 
rations,  and  when  the  boys  got  out  among  the  farmers  they  did  not  spare  pigs  or 
sheep,  and  some  would  come  into  camp  with  a  quarter  of  a  pig  or  sheep  on  their 
bayonets. 

Reuben  Schnarr  of  Company  F  had  been  detailed  as  miller  and  sent  to  a  mill 
near  Cumberland  Gap,  and  was  captured  by  the  enemy  on  the  14th  with  J.  B. 
Emery  of  Company  I,  and  others,  and  died  in  Andersonville,  Ga. 

We  fell  back  to  Blaines  Crossroads  on  the  15th  and  encamped.  While  at 
this  camp  our  commissary  ran  out  of  coffee,  so  we  procured  wheat  from  a  farmer, 
roasted  and  used  it  as  a  substitute.  While  at  Blaines  Crossroads  the  regiment  on 
January  1st,  1864,  reenlisted  as  veteran  volunteers.  All  that  were  present  of  Com 
pany  F  reenlisted  except  five,  and  four  of  them  were  temporarily  transferred  to 
the  Seventy-ninth  New  York  Regiment,  and  Morris  Eldred,  too  old  to  reenlist, 
was  allowed  to  go  home  with  the  company.  From  Christmas  until  after  New 
Year's  the  weather  was  very  cold,  and  as  we  had  no  opportunity  during  the  siege 
of  Knoxville  to  get  clothing,  quite  a  number  were  without  shoes.  Some  of  the 
boys  without  shoes  brought  raw  hides  to  the  old  shoemaker,  Morris  Eldred,  and 
asked  him  to  make  shoes  of  them.  He  told  them  that  he  could  not  make  shoes 
of  raw  hides.  A  number  of  the  boys  made  moccasins  out  of  the  raw  hides,  for 
on  our  march  over  the  mountains  we  found  them  left  along  the  road  the  first  two 
days.  After  the  moccasins  fell  off  their  feet  they  must  have  marched  barefooted 
through  snow  and  ice,  but  they  were  on  their  way  home,  and  the  thought  of  home 
kept  their  spirits  up. 

The  regiment  started  from  Elaine's  Crossroads  on  January  16th  with  joyous 
feelings  to  march  200  miles  over  mountains  and  rivers  before  reaching  a  railroad. 
The  weather  had  moderated  by  this  time  and  we  saw  men  plowing  their  fields  as 
we  passed.  Along  the  road,  as  far  as  Cumberland  Gap,  lay  dead  horses  and  mules, 
so  thick  that  we  were  seldom  out  of  sight  of  one  or  more,  and  Colonel  Curtin  had 
difficulty  in  getting  his  horse  to  pass  them. 

We  marched  through  Cumberland  Gap  on  January  20th,  and  after  passing 
over  the  mountain,  went  into  camp  at  its  foot.  We  built  a  large  fire  alongside 
of  a  fallen  tree  and  lay  down  with  our  feet  to  the  fire,  covered  with  our  woolen 
blankets.  We  slept  well  and  woke  up  the  next  morning  to  find  ourselves  covered 
with  about  one  foot  of  snow  which  had  fallen  during  the  night.  After  breakfast 
the  regiment  started  on  the  march  in  Indian  file,  and  marched  to  Nicholasville. 


Formation  of  Company  F  237 

Ky.,  where  we  took  cars  to  Covington.  We  made  out  our  muster  rolls  in  the 
hotels  of  Cincinnati,  and  were  paid  about  the  4th  of  February,  each  soldier  hav 
ing  from  $200  to  $300  in  his  possession. 

We  went  on  cars  to  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  where  we  left  our  arms  and  equipment 
on  February  9th,  and  received  veteran  furlough  for  30  days,  each  soldier  going  to 
his  home  where  the  time  was  spent  in  visiting  friends  and  neighbors,  and  recount 
ing  our  experiences  during  two  and  one-half  years  in  the  service  of  Uncle  Sam. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  veteran  furlough,  the  company  returned  to  Harris- 
burg,  March  9th,  1864.  On  the  10th  Lieutenant  Scudder,  Corporal  W.  H.  Neer, 
and  Isaac  Chamberlain  and  the  writer  were  detailed  on  recruiting  service  by  or 
der  of  General  Burnside.  Isaac  Chamberlain  went  to  Tioga  County  and  the  oth 
ers  to  Wayne  County.  The  regiment  went  to  Annapolis,  Md.,  where  it  remained 
until  May  1st. 

N.  D.  Guile  of  Company  F  died  April  12th  in  hospital  at  Annapolis,  and  his 
body  in  charge  of  his  son,  J.  H.  Guile,  was  sent  home. 

The  regiment  with  the  Ninth  Corps  went  to  Washington  and  was  reviewed 
by  President  Lincoln.  It  crossed  the  Rapidan  to  the  Wilderness,  where  on  May 
6th  Company  F  lost  Private  A.  J.  Hopkins,  killed;  Sergeant  J.  T.  Brazie,  Cor 
poral  Jonas  Kilburn  and  Privates  John  Mooney,  C.  W.  Parker,  Joseph  W.  Blough, 
Wm.  Young,  John  F.  M.  Barfield,  Samuel  Christner,  wounded.  John  D.  Palmer 
was  wounded  on  May  17th.  The  regiment  was  engaged  with  the  enemy  at 
Spottsylvania  May  12th  and  lost  Privates  Lyman  H.  Saxon,  Henry  Burkheiser, 
James  Kennedy,  John  Otto  and  James  S.  Rock,  wounded.  The  latter  died  of  his 
wounds  June  9th.  Lieutenant  Scudder,  Corporal  Neer  and  the  writer  were  re 
lieved  from  recruiting  service  on  May  1st  and  went  to  Philadelphia  to  settle  our 
accounts.  It  was  necessary  for  Lieutenant  Scudder  to  go  back  to  Wayne  County 
to  get  the  oath  of  allegiance  of  the  landlord  where  we  boarded.  This  delayed  us 
some  time  and  after  settlement  we  went  on  to  Washington,  and  from  there  to 
Fredericksburg,  Va.,  where  we  visited  the  hospitals  and  saw  a  large  number  of 
our  wounded  from  Spottsylvania  and  the  Wilderness.  We  had  in  our  party  Lieu 
tenant  Scudder,  Sergeant  Gould,  Corporal  Neer,  Drummer  J.  H.  Guile,  Private 
James  Kennedy  and  L.  W.  Lord  of  Company  F,  Sergeant  J.  B.  Emery  of  Com 
pany  I,  and  a  number  of  others  of  different  regiments.  We  joined  the  company 
May  26th  on  the  "North  Ann."  Upon  joining  the  company  the  writer  took  a 
musket  and  went  into  the  ranks.  We  crossed  the  Pamunky  the  29th  and  marched 
to  a  place  near  Bethesda  Church,  where  Company  F  went  on  picket  the  2d  of 
June.  Lieutenant  Scudder  was  put  in  command  of  Company  H,  there  being  no 
commissioned  officers  of  that  company  present.  On  June  3d  the  Battle  of  Cold 
Harbor  commenced  early  in  the  morning.  Company  F  was  ordered  to  the  line  of 
battle  and  was  sent  to  the  right  of  the  regiment,  and  later  still  farther  to  the  ex 
treme  right  of  the  line  in  a  grove  of  timber  wrhere  we  had  oak  trees  for  shelter. 
Some  of  the  enemy  were  concealed  behind  buildings  in  a  field,  and  would  shoot 
at  us  from  the  corner  of  the  buildings,  their  shots  mostly  going  over  our  heads, 
and  as  soon  as  they  saw  our  smoke,  would  dodge  behind  the  buildings. 

We  were  some  distance  apart,  yet  our  shot  cut  the  corner  of  the  building,  as 
we  ascertained  the  next  day.  While  behind  a  tree  the  writer  saw  smoke  arise 
some  distance  to  our  left,  and  fired  a  shot  or  two  in  that  direction.  Soon  the 
writer  heard  something  rattle  and  looking  down  found  a  bullet  hole  through  a 


Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

quart  cup  hanging  to  his  haversack.  Soon  another  shot  from  the  same  direction 
struck  the  roots  of  the  tree.  A  third  shot  went  through  his  blouse  which  caused 
him  to  hug  the  tree  a  little  closer.  Some  of  the  boys  to  the  right  began  firing 'at 
this  same  Johnny,  and  made  it  so  hot  that  he  jumped  up  and  ran  to  a  safer  place. 

The  line  of  battle  on  our  left  was  in  an  open  field,  the  enemy's  line  being  on 
the  farther  side  near  the  woods.  The  Confederate  General  Ewell's  Corps  was  in 
our  front,  and  the  two  lines  being  some  distance  apart,  fought  this  way  nearly  all 
day.  Late  in  the  afternoon  we  \vere  ordered  to  join  the  regiment  which  was  some 
distance  to  our  left,  and  we  found  it  a  hot  place,  near  the  spot  where  Lieutenant 
Scudder  had  been  killed.  Here  the  two  lines  were  only  a  short  distance  apart, 
and  as  soon  as  it  grew  dark,  and  the  firing  ceased  we  threw  up  breastworks. 
On  the  morning  of  the  4th  we  found  the  enemy  had  withdrawn  from  our  front 
during  the  night,  leaving  their  dead  partly  buried  and  also  one  of  the  caissons  of 
the  Twenty-second  Virginia  Battery  between  the  lines.  Company  F  lost  First 
Lieutenant  George  P.  Scndder,  killed,  and  Corporal  Francis  Seeley,  Privates 
Mason  K.  Whipple,  Moses  Merrick,  Wheeler  O.  Merrick  and  Michael  Mooney, 
wounded.  While  on  picket  duty  June  7th,  Christopher  Teeple  of  Company  F  was 
wounded  in  the  hand,  causing  the  loss  of  two  fingers.  About  June  1st  some  boys 
of  our  regiment  visited  a  vacant  house  near  our  camp  and  found  buried  in  an 
outhouse  and  cellar  several  hundred  dollars  in  gold  and  silver.  It  was  mostly 
silver  and  would  have  filled  a  peck  measure.  After  this  battle  we  marched  to 
ward  Whitehouse  Landing,  and  thence  to  James  River,  crossing  the  Chickahom- 
iny  on  Jones'  Bridge,  and  on  the  15th  we  crossed  the  James  River  on  a:  pontoon 
bridge,  and  then  marched  all  night  toward  City  Point,  reaching  the  front  on  the 
16th.  We  were  in  Colonel  Curtin's  Brigade  and  General  Potter's  Division.  Cap 
tain  Gregg  of  Company  F  commanded  the  regiment. 

At  about  three  o'clock  the  morning  of  June  17th  the  company,  regiment  and 
division,  charged  on  a  Confederate  redoubt  near  the  Shand  House,  capturing  four 
guns,  650  prisoners,  about  1,500  muskets  and  four  stands  of  colors.  On  June  18th 
the  regiment  charged  across  the  Norfolk  Railroad,  where  Privates  John  S.  Shafer 
and  Henry  Thomas  of  Company  F  were  wounded.  We  passed  on  to  lower  ground 
and  were  under  cover. 

On  the  19th  of  June  the  writer  was  detailed  clerk  at  regimental  headquar 
ters.  Captain  Gregg  of  Company  F  had  been  in  command  of  the  regiment  since 
June  7th.  On  June  21st,  Orderly  Sergeant  A.  D.  Campbell  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  second  lieutenant  of  Company  F  and  commanded  the  company. 

Sergeant  Wm.  H.  Childs  of  Company  B,  a  fine  young  man  of  good  habits, 
had  been  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy  in  Company  F,  but  had  not  been  mustered. 
On  June  22d  the  writer  was  sent  out  to  the  picket  line  by  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Hills,  who  was  on  the  sick  list,  to  get  from  adjutant  Calvin  S.  Budding  some 
papers  to  enable  Childs  to  be  mustered  as  lieutenant  of  Company  F.  Captain 
Gregg,  who  was  in  command  of  the  pickets,  and  the  adjutant  were  lying  down  in 
a  pit  about  seven  feet  square  and  two  feet  deep  for  protection  against  the  bullets 
of  the  enemy  that  were  constantly  flying  through  the  air.  The  two  lines  of  pick 
ets  were  only  a  short  distance  from  each  other  and  each  protected  by  a  low  bank 
of  earth.  As  soon  as  the  captain  saw  me  he  said :  "For  God's  sake,  get  'down." 
I  dropped  into  the  pit  and  looking  up  saw  Sergeant  Childs  standing  on  its  edge 
looking  at  the  two  picket  lines  which  ran  through  an  open  field.  He  was  told  !to 


Formation  of  Company  F 


get  down,  but  before  he  had  time  to  do  so  a  bullet  struck  him  and  he  fell  dead  on 
the  edge  of  the  pit,  and  the  writer  in  order  to  get  out  safely,  was  compelled  to 
crawl  over  his  dead  body.  Why  he  had  followed  me  out  to  the  picket  line  was 
a  mystery  to  all. 

From  June  22d  to  July  30th  the  regiment  did  picket  duty  nearly  every  other 
day  on  the  front  line  opposite  the  Confederate  fort  which  was  being  mined  by 
the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania  Regiment  of  our  Brigade.  A  short  distance  in  front 
of  our  breastworks  stood  a  cedar  tree  about  one  foot  in  diameter,  and  the  bul 
lets  of  the  enemy  often  striking  its  limbs  would  glance  and  wound  our  men.  Cap 
tain  Richards  of  Company  G  suggested  that  it  be  shot  down.  The  fire  of  our  men 
was  concentrated  on  one  spot  on  the  tree  for  a  day  or  two  when  it  fell. 

A  shaft  was  dug  down  to  the  mine  just  behind  our  breastworks  and  a  fire 
kept  at  the  bottom  to  create  a  draft  for  the  purpose  of  ventilating  the  mine.  A 
small  fire  was  kept  up  behind  the  breastwork  at  the  top  of  the  shaft,  where  the 
smoke  came  up  ;  also  other  fires  along  the  line  to  deceive  the  enemy  who  could 
see  our  every  move,  as  the  lines  were  not  far  apart  at  this  point.  The  breastworks 
were  covered  with  bags  of  sand  with  small  openings  between  to  fire  through,  and 
often  the  enemy  would  shoot  into  these  holes  and  wound  our  men.  Corporal 
Nathaniel  Bloom  and  Private  Henry  Lord  of  Company  F  \vere  shot  in  their  faces 
through  these  holes,  and  every  day  that  we  occupied  the  front  line  our  men  were 
wounded. 

Our  camp  and  headquarters  were  in  a  wood  where  the  regiment  camped  when 
not  on  the  front  line,  but  were  not  out  of  reach  of  the  enemy's  bullets,  as  occa 
sionally  a  shot  came  into  our  camp.  One  day  our  sutler,  Henry  Starr,  came  to 
our  camp  and  remained  over  night  sleeping  with  the  writer  under  a  shelter  tent, 
and  in  the  morning  we  found  a  bullet  hole  through  the  tent  just  about  one  foot 
above  our  bodies.  This  being  too  near  the  Johnnies  for  the  sutler,  he  went  back 
to  City  Point. 

When  this  camp  was  established  we  dug  a  well,  placing  a  guard  over  it,  and 
on  the  24th  of  July,  Private  Reuben  Bailey  of  Company  F,  while  getting  water  at 
the  well  was  shot,  the  bullet  passing  nearly  through  his  body  and  was  cut  out  of 
his  back  by  the  surgeon. 

One  day  in  July,  while  at  this  camp,  Macaiah  Scudder,  a  young  brother  of 
Lieutenant  Scudder,  who  was  killed  on  June  3d,  came  to  visit  friends  he  had  in 
Company  F.  "Mack,"  as  we  called  him,  was  employed  by  Wheelock,  a  sutler,  and 
occasionally  came  to  see  us.  This  day  the  company  was  on  duty  on  the  front 
line  opposite  the  mined  fort,  so  Mack  and  the  writer  went  out  to  the  front  line, 
and  while  there  one  of  the  sergeants  loaded  his  gun  for  Mack  to  fire  a  shot  at 
the  Johnnies,  which  he  did  and  was  answered  by  a  shot  which  went  between  him 
and  the  sergeant,  very  close  to  both.  We  returned  to  camp,  Scudder  having  the 
satisfaction  of  firing  a  shot  at  the  enemy  who  had  caused  the  death  of  his  brother. 

A  few  days  before  the  explosion  of  the  mine,  a  detail  from  each  company  of 
our  regiment  was  made  to  carry  powder  into  the  mine.  On  July  30th  the  mine 
was  exploded.  The  fuse  was  lighted  before  daylight  but  failed  to  go  off,  and  after 
a  half  hour  had  expired,  two  men  of  the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania  volunteered  to 
ascertain  the  cause.  They  found  that  the  fuse  had  gone  out,  and  after  relight 
ing  it,  came  out  and  soon  the  explosion  occurred,  but  valuable  time  had  been  lost. 


240     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

The  artillery  opened  fire  a  half  hour  before  the  advance  was  made  by  our  troops. 
When  the  explosion  occurred,  the  enemy  on  either  side  of  the  mined  fort  fell  back 
from  their  line,  but  before  our  troops  charged  their  line,  they  had  returned  to 
their  places,  and  as  our  troops  advanced,  gave  them  an  enfilading  fire  from  right 
and  left.  Captain  Gregg,  who  commanded  the  regiment  at  the  time,  said  in  his 
report :  "The  effective  strength  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  was  210  men.  I  left 
100  men  on  the  skirmish  line  under  command  of  Captain  Fessler  of  Company  K, 
and  marched  the  remainder  back  to  a  wood."  After  the  explosion,  the  regiment 
charged  across  the  field  under  a  severe  fire  from  right  and  left,  Lieutenant  A.  D. 
Campbell  commanding  Company  F,  was  shot  in  the  elbow  of  right  arm,  while 
leading  his  company,  and  Orderly  Sergeant  Gilbert  Vanduser  had  one  eye  shot 
out.  Sergeant  Francis  Seeley  and  Corporal  George  W.  Hains  of  Company  F 
were  killed  in  the  trenches  beyond  the  crater  of  the  mined  fort,  where  there  was  a 
hand  to  hand  fight  with  the  enemy.  Corporal  Wheeler  O.  Merrick  and  Private 
Flynn  of  Company  F  were  also  wounded  in  this  fight,  and  Captain  Gregg  ran  a 
Confederate  officer  through  with  a  sword. 

About  2  P.  M.  the  remainder  of  the  regiment  fell  back  to  our  old  line.  Cap 
tain  Gregg  says  in  his  report:  "I  charged  upon  the  enemy's  works  with  110 
men.  Of  that  number  six  were  killed,  22  wounded,  and  39  missing.  Among  the 
missing  are  Captain  Dibeler,  Captain  Richards,  and  Lieutenants  Van  Valin,  Catlin 
and  Seeley."  He  further  says,  "All  the  officers  and  men  that  were  with  me  in 
the  engagement  are  deserving  of  great  praise  for  their  noble  conduct  and  bearing." 

The  monthly  report  of  Company  F  for  July,  1864,  shows  20  enlisted  men 
present  for  duty,  42  absent,  sick  and  wounded,  one  prisoner  of  war  and  six  on 
detached  duty. 

In  this  engagement  Corporal  Frank  Hogan  of  Company  A  captured  the  flag 
of  the  Sixth  Virginia  Confederate  Regiment,  and  received  a  medal  from  the  Gov 
ernment.  We  remained  in  this  position  until  August  19th  when  we  moved  to  the 
left  and  occupied  the  front  line  near  the  enemy.  On  August  31st  the  regiment 
was  occupying  the  front  line  near  the  Weldon  Railroad.  After  the  explosion  of 
the  mine  Company  F  was  left  in  command  of  Sergeant  Wesley  Gould,  and  in 
August,  Lieutenant  William  K.  Whitlock  of  Company  D,  was  put  in  command  of 
it.  Some  time  in  September  our  camp  lay  behind  substantial  breastworks  running 
through  a  grove  of  timber  near  the  Yellow  House. 

General  Grant  and  staff  came  riding  through  our  camp  and  looking  at  the 
timber  said,  "You  will  have  plenty  of  fire  wood  for  the  winter."  In  a  few  days 
we  were  on  the  march.  Company  F  received  23  recruits  on  September  25th. 
While  Captain  Gregg  was  in  command  of  the  regiment,  our  boys  called  him 
"Major."  On  the  29th  of  September  he  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  colonel  of  the 
regiment,  and  Lieutenant  R.  C.  Cheeseman  of  Company  A,  to  captain  of  Company 
F.  Twenty-eight  of  Company  F  had  petitioned  Major  Gregg  that  the  writer  be 
made  captain  of  the  company.  On  the  30th  of  September  the  regiment  marched 
to  Peebles  farm  and  became  engaged  with  the  enemy  about  4  P.  M.,  but  were 
flanked  on  the  left  and  compelled  to  fall  back.  They  rallied  twice  and  fired  but 
were  flanked  again  by  the  enemy's  cavalry,  which  captured  Captain  Cheeseman, 
22  enlisted  men  of  Company  F,  and  a  large  number  of  the  regiment,  including 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Gregg  and  Major  Trout.  Privates  John  Braithwait  and  Wil- 


Formation  of  Company  F  241 

liam  H.  Kain  of  Company  F  were  killed  and  Private  Baman  Williams  of  Com 
pany  F  wounded. 

On  the  morning  of  September  30th,  when  the  regiment  received  orders  to 
march  to  the  left,  Sergeant  Major  Jacob  Meese  and  the  writer  were  sent  by  Colonel 
Gregg  back  to  the  wagons  to  get  the  blank  monthly  returns  and  other  papers. 
After  we  returned  and  while  trying  to  find  our  regiment,  we  went  to  the  front 
until  the  bullets  flew  so  thick  that  we  with  others  fell  back  to  a  safer  place  where 
we  found  two  or  three  members  of  Company  F,  who  informed  us  that  the  larger 
part  of  the  regiment  had  been  captured.  We  gathered  the  stragglers  together  and 
those  who  had  escaped  being  captured,  and  the  next  morning  the  writer  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  pickets  of  our  regiment.  We  were  on  the  picket  line  two  days 
and  nights,  and  near  the  enemy's  lines  where  we  saw  them  relieve  their  pickets. 
They  would  place  men  from  different  states  on  the  same  post.  They  could  not 
trust  the  men  from  North  Carolina  or  Tennessee,  so  one  or  two  men  from  a 
South  Carolina,  Georgia  or  Mississippi  Regiment  were  left  on  each  post  to  pre 
vent  desertions,  as  we  could  tell  by  the  difference  in  their  uniforms. 

Some  of  the  old  officers  that  did  not  re-enlist  nor  go  into  the  fight  with 
the  regiment  were  still  with  us  and  remained  until  the  expiration  of  their  term. 
The  writer  had  been  commissioned  first  lieutenant  of  Company  F  and  as  soon 
as  there  was  an  opportunity  was  mustered  in.  Our  camp  was  on  the  front 
line  near  a  tall  pine  tree  used  as  a  signal  station,  and  after  Fort  Fisher  was 
built,  a  tall  lattice  work  tower  was  built  for  the  signal  corps.  All  who  did  not  re- 
enlist  as  veteran  volunteers,  were  mustered  out  of  service  October  20th  and 
started  for  home. 

Quartermaster  Haynes  had  turned  over  to  the  writer  his  camp,  clothing 
and  garrison  equipage,  and  the  adjutant  his  office,  so  the  writer  was  regimental 
commander,  quartermaster  and  adjutant  all  at  the  same  time.  At  the  end  of 
each  month  there  were  five  different  returns  to  be  made  out,  and  having  been 
company  clerk  for  a  long  time  and  three  months  clerk  at  regimental  headquar 
ters,  he  had  no  difficulty  with  his  returns. 

At  the  time  the  writer  became  commander  of  the  regiment,  every  company 
was  commanded  by  a  sergeant  or  a  corporal.  Sergeant  Joseph  Funk  had  com 
mand  of  Company  A,  Sergeant  Boggs  of  Company  D,  Sergeant  Kelly  of  Com 
pany  G,  and  Corporal  Jonas  Kilburn  of  Company  F.  Commanders  of  other 
companies  I  do  not  recall,  but  they  were  good  men,  and  the  regiment  having 
been  mostly  captured  with  some  killed  and  others  wounded,  the  sergeants  of  the 
different  companies  got  their  company  records  in  good  shape,  so  that  every  man 
in  the  regiment  was  accounted  for,  and  the  pay  rolls  and  monthly  returns  for 
September  and  October  were  correctly  made  out.  On  October  31st  the  writer 
was  inspection  officer  and  his  report  will  be  found  on  the  muster  rolls  of  every 
company. 

One  day  there  was  to  be  a  review  of  the  brigade.  The  writer  went  to  General 
Curtin's  headquarters  and  requested  him  to  send  an  officer  to  conduct  the 
regiment  on  the  review.  He  said:  "Oh!  You  can  do  it."  So  the  writer  obeyed 
orders  and  conducted  the  regiment  on  this  review.  A  large  number  of  sick 
and  wounded  had  returned  to  the  regiment  from  hospitals,  so  in  numbers  we 
made  a  fair  showing.  The  majority  of  the  regiment  were  veterans  and  could 


242     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

pass  in  review  as  well  with  sergeants  in  command  as  commissioned  officers. 
Every  company  except  A  was  in  command  of  a  noncommissioned  officer  on  this 
review. 

About  the  last  of  October  our  first  quartermaster,  Lieutenant  McClure,  was 
delivered  in  my  care,  under  arrest.  He  occupied  a  cot  in  my  tent  and  was 
allowed  the  liberty  of  the  camp,  and  when  general  election  day  came,  the  regi 
ment  being  small,  only  one  polling  place  was  appointed  for  the  regiment.  McClure 
was  selected  as  judge,  and  two  inspectors  appointed,  both  politicial  parties  be 
ing  represented,  so  every  soldier  had  the  privilege  of  voting  as  he  wished  and 
none  were  influenced  by  their  officers.  The  picket  line  of  the  enemy  was  not 
far  away,  and  several  times  during  the  day  we  heard  them  cheer  for  McClellan, 
but  that  did  not  have  much  influence  on  our  boys,  as  only  19  votes  were  polled 
for  McClellan  in  the  regiment. 

We  broke  camp  November  28th  and  marched  to  the  rear  of  Fort  Rice 
where  we  remained  until  April  2d,  1865.  On  December  10th  our  regiment  was 
ordered  to  attend  a  hanging  of  two  men  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Seventy-ninth 
New  York  Volunteers,  whose  crime  was  deserting  to  the  enemy.  Many  of  the 
recruits  who  had  recently  joined  us  shed  tears.  The  same  day  we  received 
four  days'  full  rations  and  in  light  marching  order  the  regiment  fell  in  about 
5  P.  M.,  and  marched  20  miles  on  the  Jerusalem  plank  road  to  Nottaway  River 
to  assist  the  Fifth  Corps,  said  to  have  been  cut  off  by  the  enemy.  We  returned 
to  camp  at  4  P.  M.,  the  next  day,  not  having  been  engaged.  Company  F  re 
ceived  22  recruits  during  December,  1864. 

On  December  17th  the  writer  was  promoted  to  captain  of  Company  A  in 
place  of  Captain  W.  W.  Tyson,  who  was  mustered  out  October  20th. 

Captain  Cheeseman  of  Company  F  returned  to  the  regiment  December  25th 
from  the  prison  pens  of  the  South,  and  being  the  ranking  officer  present,  as 
sumed  command  of  the  regiment. 

After  January  1st,  1865,  there  were  two  recruits  in  Company  F,  who  a 
short  time  before,  had  belonged  to  a  North  Carolina  Confederate  Regiment. 
They  proved  to  be  good  soldiers,  willing  to  do  any  camp  duty,  but  asked  to 
be  excused  from  doing  picket  duty  on  the  front  line,  as  their  old  regiment  lay 
in  our  immediate  front  and  if  captured  they  would  be  shot.  They  were  ex 
cused  from  this  duty. 

Second  Lieutenant  A.  D.  Campbell  of  Company  F  was  discharged  Decem 
ber  15th,  1864,  on  account  of  wounds  received  July  30th  in  the  elbow7  joint. 
The  surgeons  at  the  field  hospital  wanted  to  amputate  his  arm  but  he  begged 
so  hard  to  save  it  that  they  removed  five  inches  of  bone,  including  the  elbow 
joint,  saving  the  arm  and  his  life. 

While  at  this  camp  the  writer  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  detail  to  dig  a 
covered  way  from  Fort  Rice  to  the  picket  line.  This  work  could  only  be 
done  after  dark  when  the  enemy  could  not  see  us,  and  while  we  were  at  work 
the  pickets  on  both  sides  kept  up  a  desultory  firing  all  through  the  night.  We 
dug  in  an  oblique  direction  toward  the  picket  line,  setting  up  on  the  side  of  the 
trench  next  to  the  enemy  willow  baskets  called  "gabions,"  and  filling  them  with 
sand  from  the  trench  which  ran  zigzag  toward  the  line.  This  covered  way,  as  it 
was  called,  enabled  us  to  go  to  and  from  the  picket  line  with  orders,  hot 


Formation  of  Company  F  243 

coffee  or  to  bring  back  the  wounded  without  being  seen  by  the  enemy.  Sev 
eral  times  during  the  winter  the  writer  was  detailed  brigade  officer  of  the  day 
and  part  of  his  duty  was  to  visit  the  picket  line  in  front  of  the  brigade  once 
each  during  the  day  and  night.  This  duty  was  attended  with  some  danger,  as 
there  was  almost  constant  firing  between  the  two  picket  lines  during  the  night, 
which  were  within  talking  distance  of  each  other  opposite  Fort  Sedgwick, 
called  by  our  boys  "Fort  Hell."  It  had  been  agreed  by  both  sides  that  there 
should  be  no  firing  done  while  the  pickets  were  being  relieved,  and  each  side 
relieved  their  pickets  at  the  same  time  about  4  P.  M.  One  day  the  writer  being  on 
the  picket  line  as  brigade  officer  of  the  day,  while  the  pickets  were  being  re 
lieved,  saw  a  squad  of  about  30  Union  pickets  march  across  the  open  field 
toward  the  front  line  in  plain  sight  of  the  enemy's  artillery  men,  stationed  on 
a  rise  of  ground  some  distance  in  the  rear  of  their  line.  These  artillery  men 
fired  a  shrapnell  which  struck  one  of  the  men  in  the  head  and  exploded  leav 
ing  the  body  headless.  The  shell  was  filled  with  iron  balls  which  scattered  in 
all  directions  and  wounded  a  number  of  men.  A  surgeon  was  sent  for  and  a 
stretcher  to  carry  one  man  severely  wounded,  to  the  rear.  The  last  time  the 
writer  served  as  brigade  officer  of  the  day  in  front  of  Petersburg,  17  men 
deserted  the  enemy's  lines  during  the  night  and  some  of  them  brought  their 
guns. 

On  February  1st,  Sergeant  Major  Jacob  Meese  was  promoted  to  second  lieu 
tenant  of  Company  F.  On  the  18th  of  February  the  writer  was  detailed  on 
court  martial  duty.  Court  was  held  in  Fort  Davis  and  no  soldier  was  shot 
by  the  order  of  this  court,  but  a  lieutenant  of  the  Seventh  Rhode  Island  Regi 
ment  was  dismissed  for  cowardice. 

On  March  25th  the  attack  on  Fort  Steadman,  a  short  distance  to  our  right, 
brought  the  regiment  into  line  in  our  quarters  where  we  remained  until  after 
daylight. 

Captain  Cheeseman  of  Company  F  and  Captain  Lord  of  Company  A,  jointly 
made  applications  to  the  Secretary  of  War  to  be  transferred  to  their  original 
companies  and  were  so  transferred  by  special  order  No.  143,  Extract  No.  59,  A. 
G.  O,,  Washington,  D.  C,  March  24th,  1865,  and  each  went  home  with  the 
company  he  enlisted  in.  April  1st  about  50  men  of  the  regiment  were  on  the 
picket  line  in  front  of  and  to  the  right  of  Fort  Rice,  and  at  dark  the  writer 
received  orders  from  brigade  headquarters  to  take  Companies  F  and  G  and  re- 
enforce  the  pickets  on  the  front  line.  There  had  been  heavy  firing  all  day 
on  the  extreme  left  and  the  enemy's  pickets  in  our  front  being  unusually  quiet, 
the  impression  prevailed  that  a  large  part  of  the  enemy's  troops  in  our  front 
had  been  withdrawn  and  sent  to  their  right.  My  instructions  were  that  at  a 
certain  signal  we  were  to  mount  the  breastworks  and  go  over  to  the  enemy's  line. 
This  undertaking  if  carried  out  would  have  required  courage  as  the  enemy  might 
have  been  "playing  'possum."  These  instructions  were  imparted  to  the  pickets 
who  were  ready  and  willing  to  obey  orders. 

Lieutenant  Meese  was  in  command  of  Company  F,  but  who  was  in  com 
mand  of  Company  G  or  the  old  pickets  on  the  line  I  do  not  remember.  The 
pickets  believed  the  enemy  to  be  still  in  our  front.  To  find  out  the  men  were 
ordered  to  load  and  give  them  a  volley,  to  which  there  was  no  answer,  but 


244     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

a  second  volley  brought  a  reply  but  nothing  like  the  challenge  we  sent  them. 
We  did  not  get  the  signal  to  charge  but  before  daylight  received  orders  'to 
join  the  regiment,  and  upon  arriving  at  the  camp  found  the  regiment  had 
gone  to  take  its  place  in  line  for  the  charge  on  the  enemy's  works.  The  men 
were  told  to  make  coffee  while  the  writer  would  try  and  locate  the  regiment. 
While  going  toward  the  front,  to  the  left  of  Fort  Rice  through  some  fallen 
timber,  the  works  were  assaulted  and  the  shot  from  the  enemy's  guns  tore 
through  the  air  and  fallen  timber  with  terrible  noise.  The  writer  hastened 
back  to  his  command  and  found  them  in  line  ready  for  orders.  By  this  time 
it  was  getting  daylight  and  we  started  for  our  main  line  to  the  right  of  Fort 
Sedgwick.  By  the  time  we  reached  our  line  soldiers  were  carrying  large  shot 
across  the  field  in  their  arms  to  load  the  two  guns  that  had  been  captured'  and 
turned  on  the  enemy,  who  had  fallen  back  to  a  second  line.  Supposing  our 
regiment  to  be  directly  in  front  where  we  could  see  Union  troops  occupying 
the  captured  line,  we  marched  across  the  field  by  the  right  flank  and  came  to 
the  captured  line  to  find  a  part  of  General  Hartranfdt's  division  of  new  Penn 
sylvania  troops.  We  learned  after  the  battle  that  our  regiment  was  some  dis 
tance  to  our  left  near  the  Confederate  Fort  Mahone.  We  deployed  to  the  right 
and  left  along  the  works  and  after  fighting  a  while,  about  15  of  us  mounted 
the  works  and  went  over.  We  found  no  enemy  in  our  immediate  presence  but 
were  exposed  to  the  fire  from  the  second  line. 

We  found  a  black  glazed  cloth  satchel,  which  they  rn  their  haste  had  left. 
It  contained  a  white  shirt  which  Private  John  H.  Gow  of  Company  F  put  on 
regardless  of  flying  bullets.  In  the  satchel  was  the  company  book  of  Captain 
Rogers,  Company  A,  Twelfth  Alabama  Regiment,  containing  the  names  of 
his  company  and  amount  of  clothing  charged  to  each  man;  one  pair  of  shoes, 
$12.00 ;  a  pair  of  pants,  $10.00,  and  other  things  in  the  same  proportion.  It 
soon  became  too  hot  for  us  and  we  began  to  get  over  the  works  to  the  safer 
side.  Philip  Kriner  of  Company  F  was  killed,  and  six  of  the  company  captured 
before  they  could  get  out.  Charles  Lebold  of  Company  F  was  killed  later  in 
action,  and  five  of  Company  F  wounded. 

Some  time  in  the  afternoon  General  Collis  came  up  from  City  Point  with  a 
Zouave  regiment,  and  before  dark  our  line  was  strongly  reinforced  and  it  was 
evident  to  all  that  if  the  Confederates  did  not  evacuate  Petersburg  during  the 
night  it  would  be  forced  to  surrender  in  the  morning.  On  the  next  morning, 
April  3d,  we  found  the  regiment,  and  as  Company  H  had  no  commissioned 
officers  present,  Lieutenant  Jacob  Meese  of  Company  F  was  put  in  command. 

Captain  Cheeseman  of  Company  A,  who  commanded  the  regiment,  when  it 
went  into  action,  was  shot  in  the  knee,  causing  amputation  of  the  leg.  The 
writer  being  now  the  ranking  officer  present,  assumed  command  of  the  regiment. 
Petersburg  was  evacuated  by  the  Confederates  during  the  night  of  the  2d,  and 
the  morning  of  the  3d  the  regiment  with  the  brigade  started  to  march  into 
the  city  but  before  going  far  were  ordered  to  move  to  the  left  of  the  road  to 
allow  President  Lincoln  and  party  to  pass.  The  President  had  his  hat  in  his 
hand  and  looked  pale  and  haggard.  Before  we  reached  the  city  the  colored 
population  came  out  to  meet  us  with  broad  smiles  on  their  faces  and  "God  bless 
the  Lincum  Sogers"  from  their  thick  lips.  As  we  passed  through  the  city, 
white  women  were  sitting  on  their  verandas  dressed  in  black  with  handker- 


Format  ion  of  Company  F  245 

chiefs  to  their  eyes,  thus  the  feeling  of  the  two  races  were  in  great  contrast. 
During  the  winter  our  regiment  had  been  filled  with  recruits  to  over  a  thousand 
strong,  and  we  marched  through  Petersburg  with  flags  flying  and  drums  beat 
ing.  During  a  halt  for  rest  we  received  news  of  the  fall  of  Richmond  and  we 
made  the  city  echo  with  our  cheers. 

Pardon  the  writer  if  at  that  time  he  should  feel  a  little  pride,  having  en 
listed  and  served  nearly  three  years  as  a  private  soldier  and  now  command 
ing  the  veteran  regiment  as  it  marched  through  the  streets  of  Petersburg. 

We  passed  through  the  city  and  turning  to  the  left  began  the  march  after 
Lee's  army  toward  Burkville,  Va.,  arriving  there  at  10  P.  M.,  the  6th.  Major 
John  F.  Trout  having  been  released  from  Confederate  prison  joined  the  regi 
ment  when  between  Petersburg  and  Burkville  and  assumed  command.  At 
Burkville  a  large  number  of  the  regiment  was  detailed  to  guard  7,000  or  8;000 
Confederate  prisoners.  The  Confederate  General  Ewell  and  his  corps  had  been  cap 
tured  near  Farmville,  Va.,  and  among  the  prisoners  were  sailors  from  the 
gunboats  at  Richmond.  Major  Trout  had  just  returned  from  confinement  in 
a  Rebel  prison  pen  and  had  no  love  for  the  Confederates,  so  the  writer  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  guard  around  the  camp  of  the  prisoners,  who  were 
furnished  with  rations  by  our  commissary,  and  after  two  days  were  started 
toward  City  Point. 

On  the  9th  of  April  we  started  for  Farmville,  at  which  place  we  arrived 
on  the  10th  and  encamped  near  town  on  a  plantation  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Rich 
ardson,  on  which  still  stood  the  old  slave  whipping  post.  We  were  told  that 
the  elder  Richardson  had  been  a  cruel  and  severe  master  to  his  slaves;  that 
one  day  in  the  field  a  slave  was  mowing  with  a  scythe,  and  for  some  reason 
the  master  struck  him,  when  the  slave  suddenly  brought  his  scythe  around  and 
disemboweled  his  master. 

Some  of  the  officers  occupied  the  Richardson  mansion,  sleeping  in  the  parlor 
and  other  rooms  where  pier  mirrors  reached  from  floor  to  ceiling.  There  was 
also  a  piano  in  the  parlor  and  our  chaplain,  F.  A.  Cast,  could  play  it  well,  \so 
we  enjoyed  music  as  well  as  shelter.  Our  boys  that  were  captured  in  the 
attack  on  Petersburg,  April  2d,  returned  to  the  regiment  the  10th.  They  were 
nearly  starved  and  had  been  on  the  march  ever  since  their  capture. 

Two  of  the  Richardson  sons  were  officers  in  the  Confederate  service,  and 
soon  after  the  surrender  of  General  Lee's  army,  they  came  home  and  stood 
around  but  had  nothing  to  say.  A  number  of  colored  people  occupying  a 
house  adjoining  the  Richardson  mansion  had  been  slaves  of  the  Richardsons, 
and  two  of  them  had  for  some  time  desired  to  get  married,  but  had  had  no 
opportunity.  One  day  our  chaplain  united  this  colored  couple  in  wedlock  and 
the  writer  witnessed  the  interesting  ceremony.  As  soon  as  we  arrived  at 
Farmville,  farmers  from  all  around  came  to  our  camp  asking  for  safeguards. 
The  writer  rode  out  to  three  different  plantations  and  placed  one  or  two  safe 
guards  at  each  house.  A  part  of  the  writer's  duty  was  to  visit  these  safe 
guards  each  day,  and  having  a  good  horse  to  ride  the  duty  was  not  unpl-easant. 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Gregg  returned  from  the  Rebel  prison  pens  while  we  wer« 
at  Farmville  and  took  command  of  the  regiment.  The  colonel  and  the  wrrter 
rode  out  together  one  day  to  visit  the  safeguards.  At  one  house  we  found 'sev- 


246     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

eral  young  ladies,  and  one  of  the  young  ladies  and  her  mother  being  afraid 
to  stay  in  their  house,  which  was  isolated  from  their  neighbors,  had  come 
here  for  safety  but  had  left  their  piano  which  they  now  desired  to  get.  So 
the  colonel  and  the  writer  went  with  two  darkies  and  an  ox  cart  and  brought 
the  piano,  and  while  the  older  women  were  preparing  a  good  dinner  the  girls 
sang  and  played,  all  of  which  we  enjoyed. 

While  visiting  the  safeguards  at  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Price,  who  had  a 
fine  looking  daughter,  the  writer  was  often  asked  to  dine  with  the  familyl  Mr. 
Price  said  he  blamed  General  Lee  for  leaving  Richmond.  He  said  some  of 
Lee's  men  came  ahead  of  the  army  who  took  the  best  horses  and  other  things 
they  wanted,  and  then  came  Lee's  army  which  took  more  of  his  property,  and 
after  them  the  stragglers  who  helped  themselves.  After  them  came  the  Union 
army  and  their  stragglers,  so  he  had  not  much  left.  War  is  just  what  General 
Sherman  said  it  was,  and  no  one  knows  what  war  is  except  those  who  have 
lived  in  its  tracks  or  who  have  participated  in  it. 

The  writer  has  seen  a  large  forest  of  valuable  pine  trees  disappear  in  two 
months,  even  the  stumps  were  afterward  cut  down  and  used  for  fuel.  Hay 
and  straw  stacks  wrould  disappear  in  a  very  few  minutes  after  a  brigade  went 
into  camp  and  a  long  line  of  rail  fence  would  go  walking  to  every  camp  where 
a  fire  was  needed  to  cook  coffee,  although  the  colonel  had  told  the  boys  to 
take  the  top  rail  only,  but  every  rail  was  the  top  rail  to  the  next  soldier  and 
no  order  was  disobeyed. 

When  the  news  reached  camp  of  General  Lee's  surrender  old  soldiers  would 
shake  hands  and  cry  like  children  for  joy.  They  knew  then  that  the  war  was 
over  and  that  they  would  go  to  their  homes  and  would  not  be  called  back  to 
the  tented  fields  or  the  open  trenches. 

But  the  saddest  news  was  that  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln 
received  April  15th.  We  at  first  could  not  believe  it.  A  gloom  was  cast  over 
the  whole  army  when  the  news  was  confirmed,  for  the  best  and  greatest  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  to  be  thus  murdered  was  indeed  sad,  especially 
to  the  soldiers  who  loved  him. 

On  April  20th  the  regiment  started  for  City  Point  and  stopped  near  Peters 
burg  the  24th  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  mined  fort  where  we  saw  bones  of 
our  dead  comrades  sticking  out  of  the  ground  in  several  places.  We  marched 
to-  City  Point,  went  on  board  the  steamer  "Glaucus"  on  the  27th  and  arrived 
at  Alexandria,  Va.,  on  the  29th.  We  marched  to  the  rear  of  Fort  Lyons  and 
went  into  camp.  We  had  left  behind  the  trenches  and  breastworks,  the  battle 
fields  where  comrades  were  wounded,  and  we  had  left  our  dead  comrades  who 
fell  at  our  side.  We  were  going,  home  after  the  war  had  ended  to  meet  our 
friends  who  would  welcome  us  with  open  arms.  But  sad  indeed  would  be  the 
friends  of  our  comrades  who  were  buried  in  the  trenches  and  unmarked  graves 
of  the  South. 

The  Court  martial  of  which  I  was  a  member  reconvened  on  May  8th  in  a 
house  situated  in  the  rear  of  our  camp. 

On  May  22d  the  regiment  marched  to  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  encamped 
for  the  night  east  of  the  Capitol,  and  on  the  23d  marched  down  Pennsylvania 
Avenue  in  the  Grand  Review.  In  this  review  the  writer  commanded  his  com- 


Formation  of  Company  F  247 

pany  which  reached  across  the  street  from  curb  to  curb,  and  after  passing  the 
reviewing  stand  the  command  of  the  company  was  turned  over  to  First  Lieu 
tenant  Meese  and  the  regiment  returned  to  camp  near  Fort  Lyons.  Second 
Lieutenant  Jacob  Meese  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  of  Company  F  ori 
May  21st.  About  the  last  of  May  Sergeant  Wesley  Gould  of  Company  F, 
who  was  captured  on  the  30th  of  September,  1864,  and  had  been  discharged  at 
Annapolis,  Md.,  came  to  the  regiment  on  a  visit.  A  lieutenancy  had  been  left 
vacant  for  him,  and  he  was  told  he  could  still  have  the  place.  He  decided 
to  accept  it  and  was  commissioned  second  lieutenant  of  Company  F  from 
civil  life.  On  June  12th,  1865,  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  which 
had  been  brigaded  with  us  for  a  long  time,  was  mustered  out  and  started  for 
home,  and  our  regiment  escorted  them  to  the  wharf  at  Alexandria  and  gave 
them  a  good  send-off.  They  had  been  with  us  more  than  two  years  and 
thought  whatever  the  Forty-fifth  did  was  all  right.  They  were  spoiling  for  a 
fight  until  they  went  into  Fredericksburg ;  there  they  were  under  fire  and  had 
a  few  men  wounded  but  that  was  enough  to  cool  them. 

On  July  17th  the  regiment  was  mustered  out  of  service  and  in  a  few  days 
was  on  its  way  to  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  where  muster-out  and  pay  rolls  were  com 
pleted,  final  returns  made  out  and  arms  and  equipment  turned  in.  Company 
F  having  its  rolls  and  returns  finished,  was  the  first  company  paid  July  21st, 
the  officers  being  paid  July  25th  by  Major  Moore.  After  being  paid  off  we 
returned  to  our  homes  as  private  citizens  and  were  welcomed  by  having  par 
ties  and  dances  given  in  our  honor.  The  discharged  soldiers  had  money  and 
spent  it  freely  and  before  long  weddings  took  place,  for  had  not  "The  girl  I 
left^  behind  me"  waited  until  "The  war  was  over?"  The  writer  remained  single 
until  1870,  and  as  he  could  not  marry  a  soldier,  married  a  soldier's  sister. 

All  found  work  of  some  kind  and  none  remained  idle.  The  great  question 
had  been  settled.  The  Union  had  been  preserved  and  all  settled  down  to  peace 
ful  pursuits. 

Of  the  222  who  belonged  to  Company  F  during  its  term  of  service,  ten  were 
killed  in  battle ;  four  died  of  gunshot  wounds ;  17  died  of  disease  and  wounds ; 
nine  died  in  Confederate  prisons ;  three  officers  resigned ;  one  officer  was  promoted 
to  lieutenant  colonel  of  the  regiment;  one  officer  promoted  to  captain  of  Com 
pany  A;  twelve  enlisted  men  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsylvania  Regi 
ment;  ten  enlisted  men  transferred  to  Company  D,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania 
Volunteers;  four  enlisted  men  transferred  to  Company  C,  Forty-fifth  Penn 
sylvania  ;  four  enlisted  men  wounded  and  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps ; 
two  enlisted  men  never  joined  the  company;  two  enlisted  men  captured  and 
joined  the  Confederate  army  to  keep  from  starving;  12  enlisted  men  mustered 
out  after  three  years'  service;  three  enlisted  men  absent  sick  at  muster-out 
of  company;  14  enlisted  men  deserted,  mostly  substitutes;  56  were  discharged 
for  disability  and  wounds;  58  were  mustered  out  at  the  close  of  the  war.  Only 
ten  of  the  original  company  were  mustered  out  with  Company  F  at  the  clos'e 
of  the  war. 

The  comrades  are  passing  away,  our  ranks  are  getting  thinner  and  soon 
blossoms  and  the  flag  wre  love  will  be  planted  over  our  sleeping  places  by  our 


248     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

children  and  our  children's  children,  and  may  they  gather  inspiration  in  the 
act  and  thereby  be  made  better  citizens  and  patriots. 

Good-bye,  Comrades,  may  God  bess  you,  is  the  wish  of  L.  W.  Lord,  late 
Captain,  Company  F,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry. 

Denver,   Colorado,   November,   1911. 

LIEUTENANT  SAMUEL  HAYNES,  COMPANY  G 

BY  MRS.  JANE  W.  HAYNES. 

Samuel  Haynes  was  born  at  Oxford,  Chenango  County,  N.  Y.,  June  30th, 
1834.  He  received  his  education  from  the  common  schools  of  that  county.  In 
early  manhood  he  was  sent  to  the  pine  woods  of  northern  Michigan  for  his 
health  and  was  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  with  an  uncle  until  his  health 
was  restored. 

Three  years  later  he  was  engaged  in  the  same  business  in  Lycoming  County, 
Pa.,  and  was  in  that  business  when  the  Civil  War  called  for  volunteers  to  put 
down  the  Rebellion.  He  was  pilot  on  the  Susquehanna  River  taking  several 
rafts  of.  lumber  to  market  at  Marietta,  Pa.,  and  when  passing  Harrisburg  heard 
the  tumult  occasioned  by  the  arrival  and  disposal  of  recruits.  As  soon  as  he 
could  dispose  of  his  lumber  at  Marietta,  he  returned  to  Harrisburg  and  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  the  Tenth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry  (three  months). 

He  then  came  to  Wellsboro  and  helped  to  raise  and  drill  Company  I,  of 
the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry.  Mustered  into  service  October 
21st,  1861,  he  was  orderly  sergeant  of  that  company  until  the  Battle  of  James 
Island,  S.  C.,  June  10th,  when  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant 
of  Company  G  and  served  in  that  capacity  until  April,  1864,  at  which  time  he 
became  acting  quartermaster  for  the  regiment  and  filled  that  place  until  the 
expiration  of  his  term  of  service,  October  21st,  1864. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  he  again  entered  the  lumber  business  for  a 
short  time  but  later  became  employed  on  the  Western  New  York  &  Pennsyl 
vania  Railroad,  now  a  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  system,  from  Buffalo 
to  Pittsburg,  and  from  Buffalo  to  Olean  and  Oil  City.  He  served  31  years 
on  that  road,  the  last  20  as  supervisor  of  a  division.  He  died  October  13th, 
1898,  in  Oil  City,  Pa.,  honored  by  all  who  knew  him  and  beloved  by  those  who 
were  dear  to  him. 

Extracts  from  letters  written  to  his  wife  by  Lieutenant  Samuel  W.  Haynes: 
FORTRESS  MONROE,  VA.,  November  24th,  1861. 

We  left  Camp  Casey  last  Monday  for  a  new  camp  two  miles  nearer  Wash 
ington  and  when  we  had  everything  about  the  camp  in  "apple-pie  order"  re 
ceived  marching  orders  about  noon  for  Fortress  Monroe,  to  be  ready  at  one-thirty. 
Several  tremendous  cheers  and  yells  greeted  the  Colonel's  announcement  of  the 
news  and  every  man  was  ready  by  the  appointed  time.  The  cars  to  take  us  were 
delayed  and  we  did  not  reach  Baltimore  until  ten  next  morning. 

We  embarked  on  the  steamer  "Pocahontas"  and  just  before  dark  the  steamer 
began  to  move  and  we  were  soon  under  way  down  the  Potomac  past  Federal 
Hill,  which  is  fortified  and  looks  fierce  enough  to  scare  anybody ;  and  down 


COMPANY  G 


Sergt.  T.  C.  Kelley 


First  Lieut.  J.  J.  Rogers 


First  Lieut.  Samuel  Haynes 


Lieutenant  Samuel  Haynes,  Company  G  249 

past  Fort  McHenry  and  the  lighthouse  on  the  point  opposite,  whose  beacon 
light  shows  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  and  we  are  on  the  broad  bosom  of  the 
Chesapeake  Bay.  A  thousand  men  were  packed  on  and  inside  and  some  300  or 
400  remained  on  the  upper  deck  with  the  great  canopy  of  heaven  spread  over 
them  for  an  awning.  Jim  Cole,  Decatur  Dickinson,  Phil  Wetmore  and  myself 
fixed  up  a  fence  on  deck  to  keep  some  of  the  sea  breezes  off,  "put  up  the 
bars,"  and  laid  down  and  slept,  but  not  as  warm  as  we  could  wish. 

We  landed  at  the  dock  here  about  6  P.  M.  Some  large  ships  of  war  lay  at 
anchor  as  we  passed  the  fortress.  We  then  marched  to  our  camp,  about  a  mile 
from  the  dock.  We  heard  heavy  firing  last  night  in  the  direction  of  Norfolk. 
Emissaries  of  Jeff  Davis,  Esq.,  are  all  around  us  a  few  miles  distant  and  our 
pickets  are  attacked  frequently.  I  saw  General  Wool  as  we  marched  to  our 
camp.  He  looks  old,  is  a  light,  spare  built  man  and  has  always  had  the  reputa 
tion  of  being  the  best  military  man  (next  to  General  Scott)  in  the  United 
States.  The  village  of  Hampton,  which  the  Rebels  burned  down  some  time  ago, 
(all  but  one  house),  is  about  a  mile  away  and  in  plain  sight.  The  house  was 
the  residence  of  ex-President  John  Tyler. 

Monday  morning.  The  regiment  was  turned  out  this  morning  for  in 
spection  of  arms,  accoutrements  and  quarters  and  we  have  just  come  in. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

Write  soon  and  direct  to  Fortress  Monroe,  Co.  I,  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  Penn 
sylvania  Volunteers. 

BAY  POINT,  S.  C,  December  llth,  1861. 

We  are  really  "Away  down  south  in  Dixie."  Last  Thursday  at  Camp  Hamil 
ton  we  received  marching  orders  again  and  it  seems  that  the  Forty-fifth  Regi 
ment  is  to  keep  moving  and  it  may  happen  yet  that  we  will  see  fire  fly  and  bul 
lets,  too. 

Friday  we  embarked  on  the  steamer  "Cosmopolitan"  at  Fortress  Monroe  and 
at  4  P.  M.,  cast  loose  from  the  dock  and  moved  out  to  sea.  Passed  Cape  Henry 
lighthouse  at  sunset  and  were  fairly  out  to  sea  for  the  most  of  us.  •*. 

Sunday  morning  we  were  outside  of  Charleston  Harbor  and  could  see  our 
blockading  fleet  laying  off  the  harbor.  At  noon  we  were  in  sight  of  this 
harbor  (Port  Royal).  We  had  taken  a  pilot  aboard  and  at  4  P.  M.,  were  lay 
ing  quietly  at  anchor  in  the  midst  of  the  great  fleet,  ships  of  war,  transports 
and  vessels  of  all  kinds  and  sizes.  We  remained  on  the  boat  Sunday  night. 
Monday  morning  orders  were  received  from  General  Sherman,  who  commands 
this  department,  to  divide  the  regiment.  Companies  B,  F,  G,  H  and  K  have 
gone  to  Otter  Island  in  command  of  Colonel  Welsh,  the  band  having  gone 
with  them.  The  balance  of  the  regiment,  Companies  A,  C,  D,  E  and  I  are 
here  on  Bay  Point  in  charge  of  Fort  Seward.  The  fort  on  the  other  side  is 
now  Fort  Welles.  This  is  the  place  where  our  fleet  had  the  engagement  with 
the  Rebel  forts.  Fort  Welles  was  called  Fort  Walker  and  Fort  Seward  was 
called  Fort  Beauregard.  There  are  plenty  of  Secesh  relics  around  here— trunks, 
boxes,  cannon  shot  and  shell  and  many  marks  of  the  recent  fight.  Palmetto 
trees  growing  here  remind  us  that  we  are  really  in  the  Palmetto  State,  the  hot 
bed  of  the  Rebellion. 


250     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

I  have  seen  many  things  that  were  brought  here  from  Beaufort,  which  was 
a  fine  town  but  is  now  occupied  by  Union  soldiers.  I  saw  to-day  some  books 
from  Beaufort,  among  which  was  a  lady's  album,  with  many  pieces  marked  1827 
and  1828,  an  old  souvenir,  but  now  in  the  hands  of  a  northern  Yankee. 

Men  are  running  around  in  their  shirt  sleeves,  sweating  and  wading  in  salt 
water.  It  does  not  seem  like  December  and  so  near  Christmas. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 
NORTH  EDISTO,  S.  C,  May  23d,  1862. 

If  "change  of  pastures  makes  fat  calves,"  our  company  will  get  fat  surely. 
We  left  Otter  Island  day  before  yesterday,  on  an  old  steamer  and  landed  at 
this  place,  which  is  20  miles  nearer  Charleston.  The  whole  detachment  at  Otter 
Island  came  along,  leaving  that  place  without  garrison.  The  sloop  of  war  "Dale" 
lies  in  the  stream  to  command  the  channel.  The  balance  of  our  regiment  (four 
companies)  is  still  on  Hilton  Head  but  will  probably  be  here  soon.  Many  of  our 
boys  were  sea-sick  on  the  trip. 

This  is  a  nice  country  and  shows  signs  of  wealth  and  prosperity.  Large 
estates,  splendid  buildings,  niggers,  etc.,  are  some  of  the  indications. 

The  mail  is  to  leave  in  a  few  minutes  and  I  must  close. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 
SUMMERVILLE,  S.  C.,  June  7th,  1862. 

On  Sunday  we  crossed  over  to  Seabrook  Island.  Monday  the  rest  of  our 
regiment,  all  the  force  stationed  at  Edisto,  came.  About  noon  we  found  them 
and  marched  with  the  column.  We  were  without  tents  and  one  night  it  rained 
as  hard  and  as  much  as  I  ever  saw  in  six  hours. 

We  arrived  here  day  before  yesterday  and  haven't  had  enough  to  eat  since 
last  Sunday  to  hurt  a  man's  dyspepsia  or  give  him  the  gout. 

This  place  is  on  Johns  Island  on  Stono  Inlet  and  only  five  miles  from  Charles 
ton.  I  can  not  estimate  our  force  but  there  is  a  good  show  of  gunboats  in  the 
stream.  They  took  their  places  last  Monday.  SAMUEL  HAYNES 

GRIMBALL'S  PLANTATION,  JAMES  ISLAND,  S.  C.,  June  18th,  1862. 

I  write  now  simply  to  let  you  know  I  am  well,  for  you  will  probably  hear 
before  this  reaches  you  of  the  battle  of  Monday  on  the  Island. 

The  Forty-fifth  Regiment  was  not  in  the  attacking  party  but  was  stationed 
as  a  reserve  and  to  support  the  batteries  if  necessary.  All  we  had  to  do  was 
to  dodge  the  shot  and  shell,  which  flew  uncomfortably  thick  about  us  for  a 
while.  Our  men  did  not  take  the  Rebels'  position,  but  retired  in  good  order 
after  firing  had  ceased  on  both  sides.  I  can  give  no  estimate  of  the  loss  in 
killed  and  wounded. 

The  regiments  that  suffered  most  were  the  Twenty-eighth  Massachusetts, 
Third  New  Hampshire,  One  Hundredth  Pennsylvania  and  Seventy-ninth  New 
York, 

Solon  S.  Dartt  died  yesterday  at  Edisto  Island  of  fever. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

[I  knew  Mr.  Dartt  well,  he  was  a  fine  man  and  left  a  good  wife  and  chil 
dren  in  Tioga  County.  Mrs.  Haynes.] 


Lieutenant  Samuel  Haynes,  Company  G 


HILTON  HEAD,  July  5th,  1862. 

I  received  notice  from  Colonel  Welsh  a  few  days  ago  of  my  promotion 
from  orderly  sergeant  of  Company  I  to  first  lieutenant  of  Company  G,  to  date 
from  the  Battle  of  James  Island.  This  was  very  unexpected  to  me  for  I  was 
in  arrest  a  few  days  before  and  didn't  think  the  old  chap  would  give  me  any 
show  at  all. 

The  Union  forces  began  evacuating  James  Island  on  the  1st  of  July.  We 
arrived  here  on  the  2d  and  by  this  time  all  of  our  men  have  left  the  Island  and 
nearly  all  have  come  to  Hilton  Head. 

The  amount  of  the  matter  is  just  this  —  The  Battle  of  James  Island  was  a 
miserable  calculation  and  our  generals  found  a  "hornets'  nest."  They  were  not 
satisfied  to  build  batteries  and  shell  them  out  but  they  must  storm  the  bat 
teries  and  take  them  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  but  we  found  them  too  strong 
and  well  entrenched  and  700  gallant  men  are  killed  and  missing  on  our  side. 
I  have  seen  sights  and  heard  sounds  that  I  never  want  to  see  or  hear  again. 
Really  the  price  paid  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union  never  can  be  appreciated 
by  those  who  stay  at  home. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

ON  BOARD  THE  STEAMER  "ARAGO"  AT  SEA,  July  19th,  1862. 
On  the  17th  we  got  marching  orders,  struck  our  tents  and  marched  to  the 
fort.  Yesterday  we  came  on  board  the  ship  and  left  Hilton  Head  at  12  o'clock 
noon.  We  are  destined  for  Fortress  Monroe.  I  am  not  sorry  that  we  are 
leaving  South  Carolina  for  the  weather  has  been  "very  hot"  for  the  last  two 
weeks.  This  is  a  fine  ship  and  we  are  having  a  fine  trip. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

BROOKS  STATION,  August  14th,  1862. 

Two  companies  of  our  regiment,  I  and  K,  are  at  Acquia  Creek.  The  rest 
of  us  are  at  Brooks  Station  on  the  United  States  Military  Railroad,  about  half 
way  between  Brooks  Station  and  Acquia  Creek,  guarding  the  railroad.  We  have 
the  most  comfortable  camp  we  have  had  since  we  left  Mrs.  Stoney's  man 
sion  at  Hilton  Head,  S.  C. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

SHARPSBURG,  MD.,  September  20th,  1862. 

[This  is  copied  from  a  letter  when  Lieutenant  Haynes  was  on  his  way  to  the 
regiment  after  being  sick  and  in  Harewood  hospital  at  Washington.  Mrs. 
Hayes.] 

Our  regiment  has  been  badly  used  since  I  was  with  it.  Last  Sunday  at  the 
Battle  of  South  Mountain  or  Blue  Ridge  it  lost  134  killed  and  wounded.  I  saw 
the  place  to-day  where  28  were  buried  in  a  row  on  the  battlefield.  They  are 
buried  as  nicely  as  possible  and  each  grave  is  marked  plainly  with  a  headboard. 
Poor  fellows  !  Dwight  Smith  and  Jimmie  Cole  lie  together  and  the  first  tears 
that  have  started  from  my  eyes  since  my  mother  died  fell  on  their  graves.  They 
were  indeed  the  most  intimate  and  truest  friends  I  had  in  the  army  and  fell  at 
their  posts,  fighting  like  true  soldiers  and  brave  men.  Henry  Fenton,  George 
Brewster  and  Jacob  Squire  of  Company  G;  George  English  of  Company  I,  and 


252     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Gillett  Holiday  of  Company  H,  were  all  the  boys  I  was  acquainted  with  and  em 
braces  all  of  Companies  G  and  I,  that  were  killed,  but  there  were  more  of  Com 
pany  H  whose  names  I  do  not  recollect. 

The  Forty-fifth  was  in  Wednesday's  fight  at  Sharpsburg,  but  did  not  suffer 
severely  in  the  battle. 

Lieutenant  R.  G.  Richards  was  made  captain  of  Company  G  the  day  after 
the  battle  for  gallant  conduct  in  the  field  and  he  earned  the  promotion  bravely. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

WATERFORD,  VA.,  November  1st,  1862. 

On  the  march  from  Pleasant  Valley  to  Fredericksburg. 

Yesterday  was  general  muster  day.  I  have  been  busy  making  out  Company 
I's  rolls  as  they  were  out  on  picket. 

The  Pennsylvania  Reserves  passed  here  to-day  going  toward  Leesburg.  I 
saw  L.  Truman,  Cale  Fenton,  John  Morgan,  Ned  Roughton,  Charley  Dodge, 
Loren  and  Dan  Foster  and  many  others  from  Tioga  and  Lycoming  Counties. 

There  has  been  heavy  firing  all  day  in  a  southwesterly  direction. 

We  have  had  orders  for  two  nights  past  to  be  ready  to  march  or  fight  at  a 
moment's  notice. 

We  were  the  advance  the  first  night  here  and  our  company  was  sent  out 
for  picket.  I  got  a  good  breakfast  with  a  nice  Quaker  family.  There  are  some 
really  good  Union  people  here,  who  are  very  hospitable  and  the  good  woman 
who  gave  me  breakfast  and  dinner  would  say  as  she  passed  the  good  bread  and 
butter  and  honey :  "Won't  thee  take  some  more  ?"  and  I  said,  "Yes,  ma'am,"  un 
til  I  was  full. 

Eton  Jones  of  Company  I  died  about  two  hours  ago  very  suddenly  and  will 
be  buried  here. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

On  the  march  from  Pleasant  Valley,  Md.,  to  Fredericksburg,  near  Rectors- 
ville,  Va.,  November  5th,  1862. 

I  wrote  you  from  Waterford  on  Saturday  last.  Sunday  morning  we  marched 
from  there  and  camped  near  a  little  town  called  Philemont,  making  about  15 
miles  that  day.  We  were  then  nearly  opposite  Snicker's  Gap  in  the  Blue  Ridge. 
On  Monday  afternoon  we  marched  about  ten  miles  passing  through  Union- 
ville,  where  our  cavalry  and  artillery  had  had  a  skirmish  the  day  before,  our 
men  driving  the  Rebs,  and  encamped  opposite  Ashby's  Gap.  Yesterday  we  lay 
quiet  in  camp  but  early  this  morning,  received  orders  to  be  ready  to  march  at 
sunrise,  and  have  marched  eight  miles  and  are  now  opposite  Manassas  Gap, 
close  by  the  .Manassas  Gap  Railroad.  We  are  about  40  miles  from  Berlin 
on  the  Potomac,  60  from  Washington  by  railroad,  30  from  Manassas  Junction 
and  25  from  Fort  Royal. 

Since  we  left  Waterford  the  character  of  the  inhabitants  has  been  "secesh"' 
outright.  Our  boys  have  "appropriated"  any  quantity  of  turkeys,  geese,  chickens, 
hogs,  sheep,  honey  and  any  other  articles  of  food  they  could  eat.  Uncle  Sam's 
"greenbacks"  were  refused  and  for  payment  consequently  very  many  Philadel 
phia  "fac-similes"  of  Confederate  notes  were  issued  to  the  respectable  "F.  F. 


Lieutenant  Samuel  Haynes,  Company  G  253 

V.'s,"  and  all  sorts  of  shinplasters  taken  for  change.  This  afternoon  nearly 
all  the  regiment  was  out  foraging  and  my  pistol  brought  in  a  fine  hog.  Every 
man  has  "flesh  stuff  to  eat"  and  about  20  have  horses  and  mules,  for  all  of 
which,  "May  the  Lord  make  us  truly  thankful." 

There  never  has  been  a  movement  made  since  the  war  commenced,  that  I 
understood  so  little  as  the  one  going  on  now  and  I  don't  know  what  is  going 
on  in  any  other  part  of  the  army  or  what  this  means  or  if  it  means  anything. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

ORLEANS,  November  7th,  Noon. 

Yesterday  we  broke  camp,  marched  across  Manassas  Gap  Railroad,  through 
Salem  to  Orleans.  We  made  nearly  18  miles.  The  night  was  cold  and  we  had 
no  tents.  To-day  it  has  snowed  since  8  o'clock  and  stifl  snows  but  we  have 
our  tents  up  and  are  doing  first  rate.  Prospects  for  picket  to-night. 

November  8th.  Instead  of  picket  we  marched  five  miles  and  are  on  a 
branch  of  the  Rappahannock  River.  Richards  and  I  have  ten  blankets  and  straw 
when  he  can  get  it. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CARTER'S  RUN,  VA.,  November  16th,  1862. 

In  camp  at  Carter's  Run,  near  Waterloo,  Va.  For  the  past  five  days  hard 
tack  has  been  lamentably  short  and  the  boys  have  been  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  eating  popped  corn,  wheat  shorts  and  of  grinding  corn  on  a  grater  to  make 
"slap  jacks"  to  supply  the  temporal  wants  of  their  mortal  systems,  but  to-day 
our  visions  (and  bellies,  too)  were  greeted  with  the  sight  of  the  much  coveted 
"tack"  and  all  goes  well  again.  Some  of  the  men  actually  said:  "Instead  of 
our  starving  the  'Butternuts'  out,  the  impudent  rascals  had  surrounded  us  (on 
one  side)  and  were  starving  us  out." 

The  removal  of  General  McClellan  from  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  has  caused  a  great  deal  of  talk.  Many  deeply  regret  it  but  all  join 
in  the  hope  that  under  our  new  leader  (Burnside)  we  may  be  more  successful 
in  the  cause  of  Union  and  right.  He  has  the  confidence  of  all  the  officers  and 
men  with  whom  he  has  already  come  in  contact  and  he  has  prestige  bright, 
beside  his  bald  head,  checkered  shirt  and  bob-tailed  horse,  to  carry  him  through 
the  great  tribulation. 

I  heard  to-day  that  we   were  to  march  to-morrow  for  Fredericksburg. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

BATTLE  OF  FREDERICKSBURG,  CAMP  OPPOSITE  FREDERICKSBURG,  VA., 

December    18th,    1862. 

We  are  back  again  in  our  old  camp  opposite  Fredericksburg  and  to  tell  the 
truth  I  am  not  sorry  but  on  the  contrary  very  glad  that  the  Forty-fifth  Regi 
ment  came  off  without  losing  a  man.  The  papers  have  given  you  a  better  gen 
eral  account  of  the  battle  than  I  can  but  I  will  give  you  a  sketch  of  our  own 
immediate  movements. 

On  Thursday  morning  the  bombardment  commenced.  Our  line  was  formed 
at  8  A.  M.,  in  a  large  field  near  our  camp.  We  remained  near  the  stacks  all  day 


2^4     Forty-Fifth  Pennsyfoania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

and  returned  to  our  camp  at  night.  During  the  forenoon  the  firing  was  terrific. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  cannon  combined  to  destroy  the  town  and  smother  the 
Rebel  batteries. 

Friday  morning  our  line  was  formed  again  and  marched  directly  across  the 
river  and  formed  at  the  lower  end  of  town.  Our  regiment  in  advance  of  the 
division,  with  skirmishers  in  front.  We  remained  in  this  position  all  day. 
During  the  afternoon  the  Rebels  trained  two  batteries  upon  us  wounding  two 
men  of  our  regiment  slightly.  Several  of  other  regiments  were  killed  or 
wounded.  There  was  a  little  firing  in  front  between  the  skirmishers  but  no 
engagement. 

Saturday  morning  our  division  moved  down  the  river  and  formed  the  con 
nection  between  Summer's  and  Franklin's  Grand  Divisions.  We  occupied  this 
position  with  very  little  changing  until  we  were  withdrawn  to  this  side  of 
the  river.  The  fighting  back  of  the  city  was  awful  and  our  loss  must  have 
exceeded  the  enemy's  very  much.  It  was  kept  up  at  intervals  until  late  in  the 
evening.  After  dark  the  roar  of  the  cannon,  the  rattle  of  musketry,  the  yells 
and  cheers  of  the  men,  the  streaks  of  vivid  fire  issuing  from  the  guns,  made 
an  impression  on  our  minds  never  to  be  forgotten  and  was  most  painful  to 
hear  and  behold.  On  the  left  where  the  reserves  were  engaged  it  was  the 
same  thing  over  again  but  was  more  distant  from  us. 

Sunday  was  very  quiet.  So  was  Monday.  On  Monday  night  our  whole 
immense  army  recrossed  the  Rappahannock  without  the  loss  of  a  gun,  wagon 
or  man  except  a  few  stragglers  and  skulkers  who  had  hid  themselves  to  get  rid 
of  fighting  and  were  thus  left  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  merciful  (?)  Rebels. 
The  crossing  and  recrossing  of  our  great  army  over  such  a  river  was  done  in 
the  most  masterly  manner  and  I  consider  it  a  great  feat.  - 

The  position  of  the  Rebels  is  so  strong  that  they  have  a  great  advantage 
over  us  even  if  their  numbers  are  greatly  inferior  to  ours  and  I  think  Burnside 
did  a  wise  thing  in  withdrawing  his  army  from  such  a  slaughter  house  to  try 
some  other  spot. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CAMP  NEAR  FALMOUTH,  VA.,  February  6th,  1863. 

The  Ninth  Army  Corps  has  marching  orders  for  Fortress  Monroe  to  em 
bark  as  soon  as  possible  and  report  to  General  Dix  for  orders. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

NEWPORT  NEWS,  February  17th,  1863. 

We  started  from  our  old  camp  opposite  Fredericksburg  last  Monday  and 
came  to  Acquia  Creek  after  dark  and  embarked  on  board  the  steamer  "John  A. 
Warner"  the  same  evening  and  started  for  Fortress  Monroe  next  morning.  Tues 
day  night  we  lay  at  anchor  in  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac.  Wednesday  we 
reached  Fortress  Monroe.  Next  day  we  came  to  Newport  News,  disembarked, 
marched  here  to  our  camp,  near  where  we  were  last  summer,  after  we  came 
from  South  Carolina.  We  are  near  the  James  River  and  the  boys  are  all  busy 
building  log  cabins.  Already  quite  a  town  has  sprung  into  existence. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 


Lieutenant  Samuel  Hayncs,  Company  G  255 

WASHINGTON  HOUSE,  BALTIMORE,  MD.,  March  22d,  1863. 
Last  Thursday  I  was  ordered  to  Washington  for  officers'  baggage  which 
was  stored  there  and  to  bring  it  to  this  place.  Our  division  is  moving  again. 
It  is  to  report  to  Baltimore  and  then  go  on  cars,  where — I  don't  know — probably 
Kentucky  or  Tennessee.  I  left  Fortress  Monroe,  Thursday  evening,  arrived 
here  Friday  morning,  went  to  Washington  same  day  and  came  back  here  yes 
terday  and  am  now  awaiting  the  regiment.  The  first  brigade  has  arrived;  ours 
will  probably  be  here  to-night  or  to-morrow  morning. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

PARIS,  KY.,  March  29th,  1863. 

I  did  not  have  time  to  write  you  again  from  Baltimore  for  the  regiment 
arrived  at  Locust  Point,  Monday  night,  and  I  was  busy  all  the  time  until  we 
left.  We  went  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  to  Parkersburg,  Va.,  on  the 
Ohio  River  below  Wheeling.  We  were  48  hours  on  the  cars,  through  very 
rough  country  west  of  Cumberland  and  passed  through  about  30  tunnels,  two 
of  which  were  a  mile  long.  We  reached  Parkersburg  Thursday  evening  and 
embarked  on  board  the  steamer  "LaCrosse"  for  Cincinnati.  We  reached  Cin 
cinnati  Friday  night  but  did  not  go  off  the  boat.  Yesterday  we  crossed  the 
river  to  Covington,  Ky.,  and  came  here  by  railroad,  the  Kentucky  Central. 
The  distances  from  Newport  News  are  nearly  as  follows :  Newport  News  to 
Baltimore,  190  miles ;  Baltimore  to  Parkersburg,  389  miles ;  Parkersburg  to  Cin 
cinnati,  300  miles;  Cincinnati  to  Paris,  Ky.,  76  miles,  all  of  which  put  together 
makes  quite  a  journey. 

We  are  quartered  here  on  the  fair  grounds,  all  the  men  in  buildings  and 
officers  in  tents.  The  Ninth  Corps  is  scattered  all  over  the  state.  The'  Twenty- 
ninth  Massachusetts  is  with  us.  I  believe  we  are  here  to  prevent  raids,  a  good 
business  if  the  raiders  keep  far  enough  away. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

ON  BOARD  STEAMER  "SAIXIE  LIST/'  CAIRO,  ILL.,  June  10th,  1863. 

After  bidding  you  good-bye  at  Seymour,  Ind.,  on  the  8th,  we  were  on  the 
cars  until  last  night  at  12  o'clock  and  came  on  board  this  boat  about  three 
this  morning  tired  and  awfully  dirty.  From  Seymour  to  Cairo  the  country 
is  mostly  prairie  but  many  fine  little  towns  are  growing  up  along  the  line  of 
the  railroad.  The  inhabitants  welcomed  us  with  many  demonstrations  of  joy 
and  with  many  substantiate  in  the  eating  line,  for  which  we  were  all  truly 
thankful. 

Do  you  want  a  description  of  Cairo?  In  the  first  place,  mud,  knee-deep, 
then  steamboats,  gunboats,  wharfboats,  officers,  soldiers,  niggers,  citizens  and 
railroad  cars;  hotels,  restaurants,  whisky  shops,  clothing  stores,  some  dwell 
ing  houses,  a  great  deal  of  confusion,  calliope  playing,  bells  ringing,  the  Ohio 
River  one  side,  the  Mississippi  the  other.  Lastly  mud,  deeper  than  the  first. 

P.  S.    Mud  and  Cairo. 

We  are  going  down  to  Memphis  or  Vicksbtirg,  I  don't  know  which.  Troops 
have  been  going  forward  for  a  week,  very  fast  and  many  of  them. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 


256     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

MEMPHIS,  TENN,  1863. 

There   is   a  marble  bust   of  General  Jackson   standing  in   the  park   in   this 
city.     On  the  side  of  the  block  on  which  it  stands  is  the  saying  of  his : 
"The  Federal  Union,  it  must  and  shall  be  preserved." 

The  word  "Federal"  is  almost  obliterated.  It  was  done  by  some  secesh 
before  the  city  was  taken  by  our  forces. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CAMP  NEAR  SNYDERS  BLUFF,  June  27th,  1863. 

We  are  now  down  at  Vicksburg  with  Grant's  army  on  both  sides,  one  line  in 
front  of  Vicksburg  and  the  other  from  the  Yazoo  to"  the  Big  Black.  The  siege 
is  progressing  slowly  but  awfully  sure.  Day  before  yesterday  our  men  blew  up 
part  of  one  of  their  forts,  the  highest  one  they  had  along  the  whole  line.  They 
then  made  an  assault,  drove  the  Rebels  out  and  now  occupy  the  work.  The  mine 
was  loaded  with  2,700  pounds  of  powder  and  you  may  imagine  the  dirt  flew  and 
Rebels  too.  Our  regiment  is  digging  rifle  pits  and  cutting  down  timber  in  order 
to  defend  any  attack  from  the  rear.  We  get  no  news  here.  Hear  nothing  but 
the  reports  of  guns  and  mortars,  live  in  a  cane  brake  and  have  blackberries  and 
plums  for  dessert. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

(From   the  original  letter.) 

CAMP  OF  THE  FORTY-FIFTH  PENNSYLVANIA  VOLUNTEERS,  NEAR  VICKSBURG,  Miss., 

July  5th,  1863. 

Sound  the  trumpet  and  blow  the  Hevvgag;  smite  the  huzzy-fuzzy,  beat  the 
tomtom  and  permit  miscellaneous  things  to  rip  generally ! 

Because  why?  Vicksburg  has  fallen,  and  great  was  the  fall  thereof.  Yes 
terday  morning  General  Pemberton  surrendered  unconditionally  to  General 
Grant  and  our  forces  occupied  the  city. 

That  was  all  the  celebration  we  had  for  the  Glorious  Fourth  and  that  was 
enough. 

We  marched  about  four  miles  toward  the  Big  Black  River  yesterday  after 
noon  and  are  now  laying  in  the  woods  without  tents  or  blankets. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

TEN  MILES  NORTH  FROM  JACKSON,  Miss.,  July  18th,  1863. 
[This  is  from  the  second  letter  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg.      Mrs.  Haynes.] 
I  have  not  written  you  since  July  5th  for  we  have  marched  nearly  every 
day  since.     We  crossed  the  Big  Black  River  and  marched  to  Jackson  a  week 
ago  yesterday.     Our  regiment  skirmished   up  within  a  mile  from  town,   lay  afl 
night  in  the  skirmish   line,  next  morning  advanced  a  short  distance,   but  upon 
coming  on  the  Rebel  force,  and  the  fire  becoming  too  hot  to  advance  further, 
we  had  to  stop.     We  lay  there  until  after  noon,  when  we  were  relieved. 

James  Naval  of  Company  I  was  killed;  Sergeant  Carvey  of  Company  I, 
shot  in  the  leg;  Stratton  of  Company  H,  killed.  No  casualties  in  Company  G; 
Lieutenant  Humphrey  and  Sergeant  Hill  of  Company  F,  killed.  A  few  others 
on  the  right  of  the  regiment  were  wounded  but  not  severely.  Yesterday  morn- 


Lieutenant  Samuel  Haynes,  Company  G  257 

ing  the  city  of  Jackson  was  found  to  be  evacuated  by  the  Rebels  and  our  force 
took  possession. 

Our  division  marched  at  12  o'clock  due  north  and  are  now  ten  miles  from 
where  we  started.  Where  we  are  going,  I  can't  tell.  I  haven't  had  but  one 
shirt  since  the  19th  of  June  and  had  that  washed  once.  I  am  well  and  nearly 
all  the  boys  are.  The  news  from  the  North  is  very  cheering. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CAMP  NEAR  COVINGTON,  KY.,  August  14th,  1863. 

I  was  sick  a  couple  of  days  before  we  marched  to  Jackson  and  didn't  feel 
well  for  some  time  after  we  got  back.  That  is  not  strange  for  that  heat,  dust 
and  fatigue  was  enough  to  kill  an  imp  of  darkness  and  many  men  did  die 
along  the  road  from  sunstroke  and  exhaustion  but  none  from  our  regiment. 
We  have  a  good  many  sick  in  hospitals,  however,  in  consequence. 

We  embarked  at  Snyder's  Bluff  last  Thursday  on  board  the  steamboat 
"Hiawatha."  There  were  on  board  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania,  Thirty-sixth 
Massachusetts,  Twenty-seventh  Michigan  and  Benjamin's  Battery  of  Regulars, 
in  all  1,702  men,  95  officers,  250  horses,  six  20-pound  guns  with  their  caissons, 
etc.,  making  in  all  a  "right  smart"  load.  Our  trip  up  the  river  was  without 
accident  or  incident  but  most  mortal  hot  and  we  arrived  at  Cairo  on  Monday 
morning  after  braving  the  dangers  of  the  big  muddy  "Father  of  Waters"  for 
four  long  nights  and  three  longer  days.  We  disembarked,  loaded  on  cars  and 
started  at  2  A.  M.,  Tuesday,  passing  over  the  same  route  we  went  as  far  as 
Seymour,  Ind.,  so  on  to  Cincinnati,  where  we  arrived  Wednesday  night. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CAMP  NEAR  NICHOLASVILLE,  KYV  August  30th,  1863. 

The  regiment  moved  last  night  to  Crab  Orchard  leaving  150  here  sick, 
mostly  with  fever.  I  have  been  very  sick  with  chills  and  fever  but  am  sor 
I  can  walk  around  again.  Bill  Willard  is  doctoring  me  with  potatoes  and 
onions. 

General  Welsh  died  in  Cincinnati  very  suddenly  a  few  days  before  we  left. 
We  are  three  miles  from  Nicholasville  on  the  pike.       <-  HAYN 

NEAR  BARBOURSVILLE,  KYV  December  22d,  1863. 

[This  was  written  after  Lieutenant  Haynes  had  been  home  on  sick  leave 
and  was  returning  to  his  regiment. — Mrs.  Haynes.] 

We  left  Crab  Orchard  and  have  been  ever  since  getting  this  far,  about  50 
miles.  At  this  rate  we  may  reach  Knoxville  some  time  next  year.  The  roads 
are  awful — hills,  mountains,  rocks  and  mud  on  to  the  end.  I  saw  Captain  Cur- 
tin,  Billy  Bell  and  Charles  Terbell  to-day  as  we  passed  through  London.  They 
were  going  to  Camp  Nelson  for  supplies.  I  saw  some  boys  of  our  regiment 
(Company  E),  who  were  with  the  train  which  was  captured  by  the  Rebels  be 
tween  Tazewell  and  Knoxville.  Charley  Hart,  John  Emery,  Amos  Mullen, 
Johnny  Miles  and  young  Wilcox  of  Company  H  were  taken  prisoners  with  the 
train.  Wilcox  was  slightly  wounded.  Colonel  Curtin  and  Colonel  Bowman 
are  with  General  Wilcox  near  Tazewell.  SAMUEL  HAYNES. 


258     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

ANNAPOLIS,   Ma,   April    24th3    1864. 

The  Ninth  Army  Corps  has  moved  towards  Washington.  The  orders  were 
sudden  and  the  whole  concern  left,  I  suppose,  for  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
I  am  here  to  attend  to  the  transferring  of  tents  and  extra  baggage,  as  we 
could  have  but  two  wagons  to  a  regiment,  and  shall  start  from  here  this  after 
noon  to  catch  the  regiment. 

Direct  to  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteers,  First  Brigade,  Sec 
ond  Division,  Ninth  Army  Corps,  as  we  are  not  in  the  First  Division  any 
more. 

[Lieutenant  Haynes  was  acting  quartermaster  from  this  time  until  the  ex« 
piration  of  his  term  of  service,  October  21st,  1864. — Mrs.  Haynes.] 

KETTLE  RUN,  VA.,  May  2d,   1864. 

The  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteers  are  now  encamped  at 
Kettle  Run,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Bristow  Station,  where  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Reserves  were  all  winter. 

I  left  Annapolis  the  next  afternoon  after  the  regiment  marched  and  rode 
nearly  all  night.  I  passed  the  camp  in  the  night  and  reached  Bladensburg  the 
next  morning  at  daylight.  We  passed  through  Washington  the  next  day  (Mon 
day)  and  were  reviewed  by  President  Lincoln  from  the  balcony  of  Willard's 
Hotel. 

We  crossed  the  river  and  encamped  two  miles  from  Alexandria.  Tuesday 
we  laid  still.  Wednesday  we  marched  to  Fairfax  Court  House,  passing  through 
Centerville,  over  the  Bull  Run  field,  Manassas  Plains,  etc.  Thursday  we  arrived 
at  Bristow  and  Friday  came  here. 

We  are  very  well  situated  here  but  will  not  be  so  very  long,  as  we  are 
under  orders  to  march  at  the  shortest  notice  and  to  keep  constantly  on  hand 
six  days'  rations.  The  headquarters  of  the  Ninth  Corps  are  Warrenton  Junc 
tion  for  the  present 

I  have  not  received  the  things  you  sent  me  and  I  want  them  badly,  especially 
the  tobacco  for  I  am  "done  played  out"  and  there  is  famine  in  the  land  of  the 
Forty-fifth  Regiment. 

I  wish  you  would  send  me  a  New  York  paper  occasionally,  as  I  haven't  seen 

one  for  a  week. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

THREE  MILES  SOUTH  OF  FREDERIC KSBURG,  VA.,  Sunday,  May  15th,  1864. 

We  left  Kettle  Run  May  4th  and  marched  to  Bealton  Station  on  the  5th. 
Crossed  the  Rappahannock  at  Rappahannock  Station  and  same  day  crossed 
the  Rapidan  at  Germania  Ford.  At  2  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  6th  our 
corps  moved  out  to  the  Wilderness  and  commencing  fighting  about  noon.  The 
fighting  was  desperate  in  the  extreme  and  the  loss  to  the  Forty-fifth  on  that 
day  was  17  killed,  120  wounded,  and  five  missing.  Lieutenant  Goodfellow  was 
killed  on  the  field,  and  Captain  Campbell  was  shot  through  the  bowels  and  died 
two  days  later.  They  were  both  very  good  men,  and  I  feel  their  loss  very 
much.  Captain  Chase  was  shot  through  the  shoulder.  Two  or  three  other 
officers  were  wounded  slightly.  Company  G  had  ten  wounded,  none  mortally. 


Lieutenant  Samuel  Hayncs,  Company  G  259 

On  the  7th  and  8th  we  lay  at  Chancellorsville.  On  the  9th  we  moved 
toward  Spottsylvania  Court  House.  On  the  10th  the  corps  crossed  Mine  Run. 
On  the  llth  our  brigade  was  engaged  in  the  morning,  the  loss  of  our  regi 
ment  was  about  50  killed  and  wounded — no  officers.  The  loss  to  this  time 
has  been  mostly  from  sharpshooters. 

The  regiment  lays  about  nine  miles  from  here,  as  the  wagons  were  all  or 
dered  back  to  this  place,  but  I  have  been  out  to  the  front  every  day  until  to 
day. 

The  boys  are  in  good  spirits  but  they  are  having  a  hard  time.  I  can  not 
mention  all  the  boys  of  Company  G  who  are  wounded  but  recollect  Dan  Wil 
liams,  George  Derbyshire  and  Nick  Culver.  A  few  others  were  slightly  wounded. 
I  shall  go  out  again  to-morrow.  I  have  seen  awful  sights  about  the  fields  and 
hospitals;  more  than  I  can  tell  you.  SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

NEAR  MECHANICSVILLE,  VA.,  June  5th,  1864. 

I  was  out  last  night  with  Captain  Curtin  to  the  line  of  battle,  which  is 
about  three  miles  from  Chickahominy  and  ten  from  Richmond.  Our  brigade 
was  engaged  yesterday  forenoon  and  the  Forty-fifth  suffered  terribly.  The  loss 
of  the  regiment  is  nearly  or  quite  200  men,  one-half  of  those  engaged.  It 
was  awful  fighting  but  our  men  drove  the  Rebels  and  held  their  ground.  They 
were  in  the  front  line  last  night  and  were  to  be  relieved  this  morning  but  as 
we  left  at  daylight  we  did  not  see  the  regiment.  We  were  at  Colonel  Curtin's 
headquarters  and  got  the  news. 

I  dread  to  speak  of  the  casualties  and  do  not  know  all.  Lieutenant  Scud- 
der  was  killed  and  was  being  buried  last  evening  when  I  was  out.  He  had 
just  been  back  from  a  visit  to  his  home.  I  saw  him  when  he  returned  to  the 
regiment  one  short  week  ago  and  now  the  poor  fellow  is  gone.  What  a  blow 
to  his  people  when  they  hear  the  news!  Major  Kelsey  received  a  severe  flesh 
wound.  Only  one  killed  in  Company  G,  a  recruit  named  Wood  from  Blossburg, 
and  18  wounded,  Charley  Terbell  and  Eli  Smith  among  the  number.  Wright 
Redington  is  severely  wounded.  Decatur  Dickinson  and  John  Emery  all  right 
so  far.  I  shall  go  out  again  to-morrow  and  then  I  can  give  you  more  informa 
tion  about  the  killed  and  wounded. 

Our  army  has  been  almost  constantly  under  fire  for  the  last  30  days  and 
the  end  is  not  yet.  When  will  it  be?  I  believe  this  campaign  is  destined  to  be 
the  death  blow  to  the  Rebellion  and  also  the  death  blow  to  many  thousands  of 
brave  men. 

CAMP  IN  THE  FIELD,  June  6th,  1864. 

We  are  fourteen  miles  from  White  House  Landing  and  four  or  five  from 
the  Chickahominy  River. 

More  sad  news.  Colonel  Curtin  was  out  to  the  line  to-day  and  brought 
word  that  Lieutenant  Hoig  was  killed  to-day  while  on  the  skirmish  line.  Poor 
fellow,  he  was  a  good  officer  and  as  brave  as  a  lion. 

Goodfellow,  Campbell,  Scudder  and  Hoig  gone  besides  so  many  brave  men. 
How  many  more  brave  and  noble  hearts  must  be  silenced  before  this  war  is 
ended?  Truly,  the  cost  of  preserving  the  Union  is  great.  Is  it  too  great? 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 


260     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

WHITE  HOUSE,  VA.,  June  12th,  1864. 

We  came  here  from  the  front  two  days  ago,  to  send  away  extra  baggage, 
etc.  I  am  told  this  place  is  to  be  evacuated  and  a  change  of  base  made  to 
the  James  River. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CITY   POINT,  VA.,  June   27th,    1864. 

I  think  that  it  has  been  as  hot  here  the  past  week  as  any  time  I  saw  in  Mis 
sissippi  last  summer,  but  thank  the  good  Lord  I  hear  drops  of  rain  on  the 
roof  of  my  tent. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CITY  POINT,  VA.,  July  2d,  1864. 

Major  Kelsey  died  at  Washington  of  his  wounds.  He  was  a  conscientious 
man  and  a  fine  officer. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

NEAR  CITY  POINT,  VA.,  July  10th,  1864. 

John  Hauber  of  Company  G  was  killed  the  8th  of  July.  The  Rebels  made 
an  attack  on  our  lines  but  were  easily  repulsed,  our  loss  being  very  slight. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

NEAR  CITY  POINT,  VA.,  August  4th,  1864. 

[Lieutenant  Haynes  was  acting  quartermaster  of  the  Forty-fifth  when  this 
was  written. — Mrs.  Haynes.] 

You  have  read  before  this  of  the  Battle  before  Petersburg  and  in  front 
of  the  Ninth  Corps  on  Saturday,  July  30th.  I  have  neglected  to  write,  mainly 
because  I  dreaded  to  say  anything  to  you  about  it.  Not  because  our  noble  old 
Ninth  Corps  and  our  regiment  did  not  maintain  the  brilliant  reputation  which 
they  had  previously  gained  by  severe  marching  and  desperate  fighting  in  seven 
States  of  the  Union,  but  because  of  the  casualties,  which  have  laid  many  a 
noble  man  in  ,his  last  resting  place,  but  not  unwept  nor  unhonored.  The  fort 
was  blown  up  at  4  :30  A.  M.,  and  wras  a  complete  success.  Earth_and  timbers, 
guns  and  limbers,  graybacks  and  all  the  rest  went  up  300  feet  or  more  in  a 
sheet  of  flame  and  smoke,  caused  by  the  explosion  of  four  tons  of  powder 
placed  20  feet  beneath.  ^  It  was  the  most  terribly  magnificent  sight  I  ever  wit 
nessed. 

You  can  learn  more  concerning  the  other  parts  of  the  army  from  the  papers 
than  I  can  tell  you.  I  will  tell  you  a  little  of  what  happened  to  the  Forty-fifth. 
Three  officers.  Captains  Fessler  and  Trout  and  Lieutenant  Cheeseman  and  80 
men  were  left  in  our  old  pits  (which  are  about  100  yards  from  the  Rebel  fort) 
for  a  skirmish  line.  The  balance  of  the  effective  men  (about  90)  charged  with 
our  division  into  and  through  the  fort.  Sixty-seven  of  the  90  are  either  killed, 
wounded  or  prisoners.  They  were  in  the  Rebel  works  some  five  hours  and 
only  left  after  two  peremptory  orders  had  been  received  to  return  to  our  own 
line.  The  fighting  was  hand  to  hand  and  beats  anything  I  ever  saw,  heard  or 
read  of.  I  take  the  statements  of  officers  and  men  who  were  in  it.  Eleven 
officers  went  in  and  four  came  out  unharmed.  Captain  Gregg,  Lieutenant  Gel- 
baugh,  Lieutenant  Bailey  (Company  E)  and  Lieutenant  Wheelock  of  Company 


Lieutenant  Samuel  Hayncs,  Company  G  261 

K  are  O.  K.  Lieutenant  Vanvalen  of  Company  A,  Captain  Dibeler  of  B,  Cap-; 
tain  Richards  of  G,  Lieutenant  Seeley  of  H  and  Lieutenant  Catlin  of  I,  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  They  are  not  known  to  have  been  either  killed  or 
wounded,  only  failed  to  make  their  escape.  Lieutenant  Campbell  of  F  and  Eyde 
of  K,  are  in  our  hospital  badly  wounded.  I  very  much  fear  that  Captain  Rich 
ards  is  killed.  Gelbaugh  is  the  last  tman  who  remembers  seeing  him  just  as  a 
Rebel  had  a  gun  pointed  at  Richards'  head.  Gelbaugh's  attention  was  called 
to  another  Rebel  on  the  point  of  shooting  him,  but  one  of  our  men  killed  the 
Johnny  before  he  had  a  chance  to  fire. 

I  wrote  to  Mrs.  Richards  but  did  not  tell  her  all  these  circumstances  but 
led  her  to  suppose  he  was  taken  prisoner.  I  couldn't  tell  her  he  \vas  killed.  I 
was  afraid  it  would  Jcill  her.  If  it  is  true,  she  must  know  it  sometime,  but  I 
don't  want  to  be  the  one  to  tell  her. 

Captain  Gregg  came  down  with  me  day  before  yesterday  and  took  supper 
with  me.  He  did  some  big  fighting  in  the  Rebel  pits  on  Saturday.  He  killed 
the  Rebel  officer  who  led  the  charge.  The  Rebel  caught  Gregg  by  the  throat 
and  placing  a  pistol  at  his  head  demanded  him  to  surrender.  Gregg  said: 
"You  impudent  scoundrel,  how  dare  you  ask  me  to  surrener?"  and  wrenched 
the  pistol  out  of  his  hand,  knocked  him  down  with  it,  drew  his  sword  and 
ran  him  through  the  body  and  left  the  sword  in  him.  Then  Gregg  said :  "You 

— ,  I  guess  you  are  my  prisoner  now." 

Dave  Bacon  shot  the  Rebel  who  was  in  the  act  of  stabbing  Gregg  with  his 
bayonet.  In  fact  they  all  fought  as  men  never  fought  before  in  the  war,  nig 
gers  and  all.  Every  man  who  was  in  the  fight  bears  testimony  to  splendid  con 
duct  of  the  darky  troops.  Those  who  were  not  in  say,  "the  niggers  ran  away." 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

CITY  POINT,  VA.,  August  12th,  1864. 

[In  which  Captain  Gregg  and  Lieutenant  Haynes  call  on  General  Grant. — 
Mrs.  Haynes.] 

Day  before  yesterday,  a  barge  at  City  Point,  which  was  loaded  >with  ord 
nance  and  ordnance  stores,  blew  up  from  the  accidental  explosion  of  a  shell, 
supposed  to  be  at  the  time.  The  destruction  was  awful.  Shot,  shell,  shrapnell, 
grape,  canister,  boxes  of  cartridges,  timbers,  etc.,  flew  high  in  the  air  and  in 
every  direction  tearing  down  the  wharf  and  several  buildings,  killing  probably 
100  men.  I  was  at  the  division  hospital,  near  the  front,  at  the  time  and  heard 
it  plainly  and  thought  an  ammunition  wagon  or  caisson  had  blown  up  not  more 
than  a  mile  away,  when  in  fact  it  was  eight  miles. 

Yesterday  afternoon  Captain  Gregg  and  I  called  on  General  Grant  at  his 
headquarters  at  City  Point.  Gregg  was  bound  to  see  him  and  insisted  on 
having  me  go  with  him.  The  sentinels  didn't  want  to  let  us  go  in,  I  sup 
pose  on  account  of  our  rough  appearance.  We  neither  had  shoulder  straps, 
vests  nor  shirt  collars  on ;  our  pants  were  stuck  in  our  boots,  we  hadn't  been 
shaved  for  several  days  and  altogether  presented  a  very  unmilitary  appearance 
and  not  exactly  the  thing  in  which  to  appear  before  the  lieutenant  general 
commanding  the  Armies  of  the  United  States.  Gregg  swore  some  awful  oaths 
that  he  had  most  urgent  business  with  the  General  and  the  sentinel  let  us 
pass.  We  rushed  in,  took  off  our  hats  and  Gregg  opened  his  battery.  I  ex- 


262     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

pected  that  we  would  get  kicked  out  or  be  ordered  in  arrest  but  Gregg  was 
equal  to  the  occasion.  He  introduced  himself  as  one  of  Grant's  old  soldiers  in 
Mexico  in  the  same  regiment  (the  Fourth  United  States  Infantry)  and  then 
introduced  me. 

General  Grant  politely  asked  us  to  be  seated ;  then  he  and  Gregg  rehearsed 
their  old  campaigns  and  "fought  their  battles  over  again."  We  stayed  an  hour. 
Gregg  talked  to  General  Grant  very  much  as  he  would  to  me.  The  General  ex 
pressed  himself  very  much  pleased  to  meet  Gregg  and  when  we  were  leaving 
asked  us  to  call  again.  I  don't  think  I  will  call  again  unless  I  have  some  busi 
ness.  General  Grant  asked  Gregg  many  questions  about  the  members  of  their 
old  regiment  and  about  the  fight  of  July  30th  before  Petersburg. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES. 

ON  GUARD 

The  moon  displays  her  icy  smile 
And  stars  their  sentry  keep, 
No  sound  disturbs  the  silent  air 
Along   my    lonely    beat; 
But  thoughts  of  home  so  far  away 
And  friends  who  smile  reward, 
Are  dear  unto  the  soldier's  breast 
Upon  his  midnight  Guard. 

One  glance  back  to  my  native  hills 
Along  the  glades  and  streams, 
Reminds   me  of  my  boyish   days 
And  long,   long  summer  dreams, 
While   musing   'neath    some    trysting   shack 
The  hours  were   dear   to   me, 
Contentment  spread  her  happy  wings 
From  care   and   anger  free. 

Once  more   I   see   the   cottage  home 

Shadowed  by  creeping  vine, 

My  aged  Father  standing  near, 

A   Mother's  hand  in  mine ; 

While  gathering  tears  from  eyelids  start, 

Her  arms  around  me  threw, 

She  pressed  me  to  her  aching  heart, 

And  bade  her  boy  adieu. 

And  one  whose  form  and  constancy, 

I  never  can  forget; 

The  stolen   interviews  are  passed 

But  I  remember  yet; 

When  she  forsook  her  village  home 

To  be  a  soldier's  bride, 

A  haughty  Father's  anger 

And   all  the   world  beside. 


Company  G  at  Camps  Curtin  and  Casey  263 

And  when  rebellion  sounded  forth 

The  clarion  notes  of  war, 

When  from  the  walls  of  Sumter 

They  tore  the  Stripes  and  Stars; 

"Go,  guard  your  country's  Flag,"  she  cried, 

"Our  homes  and  liberty, 

And  when  you're  on  the  battlefield 

My  prayers  shall  go  with  thee." 

But  Hark !  what  sound  approaches, 
Disturbs   the   silent   air, 
Still  nearer,  "Halt!  friend  or  foe 
Answer,  who  comes  there, 
Advance,  and  give  the  countersign, 
There's  death  in  your  retreat, 
For  I  am  bound  none  but  a  Friend 
Shall  cross  my  lonely  beat." 

"Relief!'*   the  Corporal's  stern  reply, 

The  countersign   is   right, 

"Advance,  now  sentry  to  your  post," 

One  trick  the  less  to-night. 

"Quick  forward  march !"  from  post  to  post 

And  Morpheus  will  reward 

The  Comrade  who  an  hour  or  two 

Has  stood  his  turn  on  Guard. 

— W.  T.  FITZGERALD. 
Camp  Casey,  Washington,  D.  C,  1861. 


COMPANY  G  AT  CAMP  CURTIN  AND  CAMP  CASEY 

By  EUGENE  BEAUGE. 

Company  G,  known  at  first  as  the  "Charleston  Rangers,"  was  organized  on 
the  Village  Green  in  Wellsboro,  Tioga  County,  on  Wednesday,  September  18th. 
1861.  The  original  members  of  the  company  were  mostly  young  fellows  from 
the  vicinity  of  Wellsboro,  a  large  proportion  of  them  farmers  and  farmers' 
sons  from  Charleston  township,  most  of  them  between  the  ages  of  18  and 
25.  "Uncle  Joe"  Willard  was  the  oldest  man  in  the  company.  He  was  47. 
Charley  Terbell  at  16  I  think  was  the  youngest.  The  company  was  recruited  by 
Nelson  Whitney,  himself  a  Charleston  farmer,  who  was  unanimously  elected 
captain  when  the  organization  was  effected. 

Friday  morning,  September  20th,  we  met  at  Whitneyville,  where  the  captain 
lived,  and  rode  from  there  in  wagons  to  Troy,  Bradford  County,  a  distance  of 
25  miles.  Many  of  us  had  never  been  away  from  home  to  amount  to  anything 
and  naturally  there  were  some  sad  faces  and  moist  eyes  as  our  native  hills  re 
ceded  from  view.  But  we  soon  got  over  that  and  really  had  a  jolly  time  on  the 
way. 


264     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Our  destination  was  Harrisburg  and  the  remainder  of  the  journey  from 
Troy  to  the  State  Capital  was  made  by  rail.  It  was  about  three  o'clock  Saturday 
morning  when  we  arrived  at  Harrisburg.  Then  and  there  began  our  experi 
ence  as  soldiers.  Instead  of  going  to  bed,  as  gentlemen  who  travel  are  sup 
posed  to  do,  we  were  told  to  make  ourselves  comfortable  (?)  on  the  pavement 
near  the  station  or  wherever  there  was  room  to  spare. 

Shortly  after  daybreak  we  proceeded  to  Camp  Curtin,  a  large  level  field 
enclosed  by  a  high  board  fence,  (something  like  a  country  fair  ground,  about  a 
mile  from  the  heart  of  the  city.  The  first  thing  that  attracted  our  attention 
and  our  appetites  was  breakfast.  Sitting  on  the  lap  of  Mother  Earth  with 
outstretched  legs  for  a  table  we  made  our  first  meal  in  camp.  A  pint  cupful  of 
steaming  hot  coffee,  a  liberal  chunk  of  boiled  beef  on  a  tin  plate,  a  couple  of 
slices  of  soft  bread  and  an  onion  comprised  the  bill  of  fare.  A  greasy  soldier 
seemed  to  have  general  charge  of  the  culinary  department  but  we  had  a  cook 
of  our  own  in  the  person  of  Uncle  Joe  Willard.  He  could  beat  them  all.  Lafer 
on  Uncle  Joe  was  assigned  to  special  duty  as  chief  cook  at  the  field  hospital  and 
rendered  excellent  service. 

Camp  Curtin  was  a  lively  place  in  those  days.  It  seemed  to  be  full  of  young 
men,  some  strutting  around  with  new  uniforms  on,  others  like  ourselves  in 
citizens  clothes.  In  the  forenoon  especially  everybody  seemed  to  be  doing  some 
thing  or  going  somewhere.  Drilling  by  regiments,  companies  and  squads  was 
going  on  all  over  the  field.  One  fellow  I  remember  was  marching  between  two 
soldiers  with  fixed  bayonets,  presumably  to  the  guard  house.  Another  was  doing 
penance  astride  the  big  cannon  in  front  of  headquarters. 

One  commissioned  officer,  in  a  smart  uniform,  tall,  graceful  and  straight  as 
a  rail,  especially  attracted  my  attention.  He  was  in  charge  of  a  squad  of  sol 
diers  taking  a  couple  of  fellows  where  they  evidently  did  not  want  to  go.  I 
overheard  the  young  officer  say  something  about  a  few  sharp  bayonets  being 
a  most  convincing  argument  and  concluded  he  must  be  a  lawyer.  And  he 
was.  Moreover,  that  young  man  later  on  made  his  mark.  We  .all  know  him. 
His  name  is  James  A.  Beaver. 

The  afternoon  was  more  quiet.  Most  of  the  men  seemed  to  be  taking  it 
easy,  lolling  around  or  amusing  themselves  playing  ball,  checkers,  cards  or 
maybe  writing  letters.  Having  been  brought  up  to  work  every  day  I  wondered 
how  Uncle  Sam  could  afford  to  feed  and  clothe  all  this  crowd  and  not  keep 
them  busy.  By  and  by  I  wondered  that  soldiers  could  stand  so  much  and  live ! 

Late  in  the  afternoon  we  formed  in  line  near  the  surgeon's  tent  and  as 
each  one  answered  to  his  name  we  stepped  inside  where  a  young  fellow  with 
shoulder  straps  and  brass  buttons  told  us  to  "strip."  The  doctor  examined  us 
carefully  from  head  to  foot,  finally  requiring  each  candidate  to  perform  certain 
gymnastic  stunts  to  test  his  arms  and  legs.  Having  passed  examination,  Major 
John  M.  Kilbonrne  (later  on  attached  to  the  Forty-fifth)  mustered  us  into  the 
State  service  on  the  same  day.  It  was  not  until  the  14th  of  October,  however, 
that  Lieutenant  H.  S.  G'ansevoort  of  the  regular  army  administered  an  oath 
that  made  us  Volunteer  Soldiers  x}f  the  United  States.  The  oath  in  each  case 
was  practically  the  same,  concluding  with  the  startling  clause,  "For  three  years 
or  during  the  war !"  From  that  time  until  finally  discharged  the  Government 


Company  G  at  Camps  Curtin  and  Casey  265 

had  an  iron  grip  on  us,  and  to  those  of  us  who  reenlisted  and  stayed  with  the 
company  from  start  to  finish,  it  meant  a  period  of  three  long  years  and  ten 
months.  But  we  had  counted  the  cost  and  took  our  chances,  knowing  well 
enough  that  enlistment  then  meant  business.  The  war  had  just  begun,  with 
every  indication  of  a  long,  bloody  struggle.  Few  periods  of  the  Civil  War  were 
more  gloomy  for  us  than  the  fall  of  1861.  No  bounties  or  other  inducements  to 
enlist  were  in  sight.  Thirteen  dollars  a  month  and  "found"  was  all  there  was 
in  it  for  us  that  we  could  see. 

I  have  never  forgotten  our  first  night  in  Camp  Curtin.  Not  that  there  was 
anything  particularly  remarkable  about  it,  but  the  experience  was  new  and  made 
a  lasting  impression.  It  began  to  rain  about  dark  and  kept  it  up  the  greater 
part  of  the  night.  The  quarters  assigned  to  us  were  rickety,  leaky  old  barracks, 
with  nothing  inside  but  the  bare  walls  and  the  floor  sopping  wet  with  the  rain 
that  came  down  through  the  roof.  Of  course  \ve  had  no  bedding  of  any  kind, 
not  even  a  blanket  that  night.  But  as  most  of  us  had  not  slept  a  wink  the 
night  before  and  were  "all  in"  from  the  unusual  excitement  of  the  last  few  days, 
the  boys  were  in  good  trim  to  sleep  most  anywhere  and  probably  would  have 
rested  all  right  on  the  bare,  wet  floor  if  it  hadn't  been  for  the  infernal  racket 
of  the  cars  that  seemed  to  be  in  perpetual  motion,  the  locomotive  whistle  getting 
busy  every  time  we  shut  our  eyes.  The  trouble  was  there  were  no  railroads  in 
those  days  in  the  neck  of  the  woods  where  most  of  us  came  from  and  we  were 
not  used  to  that  sort  of  thing.  Later  on  we  got  many  a  good  night's  rest  rid'ing 
on  cattle  cars,  no  matter  how  much  noise  they  made  nor  how  rough  the  road. 
But  if  sleep  was  denied  us  that  night  we  had  lots  of  fun.  Something  had  to  be 
done  to  pass  away  the  time  and  if  some  peppery  stories  were  told,  a  few  spicy 
solos  rendered-  and  maybe  a  cuss  word  thrown  in  now  and  then,  I  am  sure  the 
Recording  Angel,  knowing  what  was  coming  to  us,  made  no  entry  in  the  Big 
Book  against  us.  Our  experience  was  probably  the  same  as  that  of  all  raw  re 
cruits.  We  soon  learned  to  take  things  as  they  came  and  feel  thankful  it  was 
no  worse. 

Meanwhile  we  got  our  military  trappings  as  follow :  Clothing — overcoat, 
blouse  (short  coat),  trousers,  cap,  flannel  shirt,  two  pairs  cotton  drawers,  two 
pairs  of  socks,  shoes  and  blanket;  camp  equipage — 'knapsack,  haversack,  canteen, 
pint  tin  cup,  tin  plate,  knife,  fork  and  spoon.  Arms  and  accoutrements — gun 
(Harper's  Ferry  musket),  cartridge  box,  belt  and  plate. 

Our  duties  in  Camp  Curtin  w?ere  not  strenuous  enough  to  hurt  anybody, 
although  they  kept  us  busy  most  of  the  time  drilling,  "policing"  the  streets  and 
standing  guard.  Drilling  was  an  agreeable  pastime  at  first.  But  when  we  had 
to  practice  the  manual  of  arms  with  a  gun  weighing  15  pounds  and  go  through 
the  manceuvers  with  accoutrements  on  and  likely  as  not  a  packed  knapsack — 
they  did  this  to  get  us  used  to  wearing  the  blamed  things — well,  we  did  it  be 
cause  we  had  to.  Cleaning  or  policing  the  streets  was  a  sort  of  drudgery  "but 
no  one  ever  hurt  himself  doing  it.  We  did  picket  duty  on  the  different  roadjs 
leading  from  camp  and  at  the  gate,  more  to  pick  up  stragglers  found  wandering 
around  without  a  pass  than  anything  else.  No  one  that  I  know  was  ever  court 
martialed,  however,  for  being  caught  in  that  way,  although  the  culprit  might  be 
kept  in  the  guard  house  for  a  change. 


266     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

The  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Infantry  was  organized  about  the  middle  of 
October.  Three  companies,  G,  H  and  I,  and  part  of  Company  F,  were  from 
Tioga  County.  This  paper,  however,  has  more  especially  to  do  with  Company 
G.  Our  first  commissioned  officers  were  Captain  Nelson  Whitney,  First  Lieu 
tenant  W.  T.  Fitzgerald  and  Second  Lieutenant  John  J.  Reese.  Captain  Whit 
ney  was  jolly  and  clever  and  we  thought  a  great  deal  of  him,  but  'Hike  many 
other  volunteer  officers  he  had  had  no  experience  in  military  affairs.  Lieutenant 
Fitzgerald  had  been  in  the  three  months'  service  and  knew  more  about  tactics 
and  discipline  than  all  the  rest  of  us  put  together.  He  was  the  drill-master  of 
Company  G.  Fitzgerald  had  a  penchant  for  poetry  and  wrote  (or  writes  rather, 
as  he  is  still  living)  some  very  clever  verses.  We  called  him  "The  Bard  of 
Company  G."  Big  hearted  and  generous,  Lieutenant  Reese,  a  Charleston  boy 
and  charter  member  of  the  company,  was  a  good  officer  and  popular  with  the 
men,  but  all  he  knew  about  war  was  what  he  picked  up  after  he  joined  us. 

As  near  as  can  be  ascertained  there  were  95  officers  and  men  in  Company 
G  when  the  regiment  was  organized.  The  non-commissioned  officers  were : 

SERGEANTS. 

First   Rees  G.  Richards 

Second    David   Wilcox 

Third    W.   L.   Reese 

Fourth    Jerome   Scott 

Fifth    Ephraim   Jeffers 

CORPORALS. 

First    L.    W.    Thompson 

Second   J.  R.  White 

Third D.    L.    Bacon 

Fourth    W.   W.    Owens 

Fifth    Delmar    Wilson 

Sixth  V.  S.  Culver 

Seventh    R.    E.    Smith 

Eighth   D.  A.  Evans 

Evans  was  sick  in  a  hospital  when  the  company  was  mustered  into  the 
United  States  service  October  14th  and  went  no  farther  than  Harrisburg  with 
us,  being  discharged  a  few  days  after  we  left  Harrisbnrg,  which  explains  why 
his  name  does  not  appear  among  the  Corporals  on  the  roster,  although  he  had 
been  duly  appointed  while  at  Camp  Curtin. 

Monday  morning,  October  21st,  1861,  we  got  our  first  orders  to  pack  up  and 
get  ready  to  move.  The  "loading  up"  process  was  interesting  at  first,  but  soon 
got  to  be  an  old  story.  First  came  the  cartridge  box  and  belt;  then  the  haver 
sack  with  three  days'  rations  of  hard  tack  and  cooked  meat,  followed  by  the 
canteen  filled  with  water.  Anyway,  that's  what  the  "non-coms"  and  privates 
carried  in  their's.  Last  but  not  least  was  the  knapsack.  A  soldier's  knapsack 
was  a  very  important  part  of  his  kit.  In  it  he  carried  his  blanket,  a  change  of 
clothing,  shoe  blacking  and  brush,  a  portfolio  with  writing  material,  and  any 
thing  else  he  cared  enough  about  to  lug  around.  All  this  with  our  ponderous 
Harpers  Ferrys  made  a  load  as  heavy  if  not  as  valuable  as  a  pack  peddler's. 


Company  G  at  Camps  Cur  tin  and  Casey  267 

The  regiment  being  formed  in  line  on  the  parade  ground  Governor  Curtin 
came  forward  and  formally  presented  to  us,  through  Colonel  Welsh,  our  col 
ors,  a  beautiful  banner  bearing  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  The  Governor  made  a 
neat  little  speech,  the  concluding  words  of  which  were  spoken  loud  and  dis 
tinct  enough  to  be  heard  along  the  whole  line:  "Return  in  honor  or  not  at 
all ;"  eloquent  words  that  made  a  lasting  impression  and  nerved  us  many  times 
to  endure  and  to  dare  rather  than  disgrace  that  noble  sentiment — and  ourselves. 

With  light  hearts  and  flying  colors  we  marched  out  of  Camp  Curtin,  giv 
ing  three  hearty  cheers  for  "Andy"  Curtin  as  we  passed  headquarters,  where 
the  Governor  and  other  officials  stood.  We  left  Harrisburg  on  the  cars  about 
dark.  Daylight  next  moning  found  us  far  down  in  Maryland,  plunging  along 
through  a  rough  country  thickly  dotted  with  limekilns.  Arriving  in  Baltimore 
early  in  the  afternoon  we  marched  through  the  city  with  flying  colors,  beating 
drums  and  guns  at  a  "right-shoulder  shift''  with  fixed  bayonets.  Citizens  were 
strung  along  the  sidewalks  on  both  sides  the  street,  apparently  interested  in 
our  appearance.  A  thousand  strong,  our  officers  all  with  us,  every  man  spick 
and  span  in  his  new  uniform,  our  guns  and  accoutrements  carefully  polished, 
the  Forty-fifth  was  then  at  its  best.  Never  again  was  our  regiment  in  as  good 
shape  and  as  fair  to  look  upon  as  when  we  marched  through  Baltimore  on  the 
22d  of  October,  1861.  Here  and  there  the  Stars  and  Stripes  waved  from  a  door 
or  window  and  a  few  ladies  fluttered  white  handkerchiefs  toward  us.  Aside  from 
that  the  enthusiasm  of  our  reception  in  Baltimore  was  conspicuous  by  its 
absence.  Anyway  we  fared  better  than  the  Sixth  Massachusetts,  when  four  of 
their  number  were  killed  and  twelve  wounded  on  these  same  streets  on  the  19)th 
of  April  previous. 

At  Washington,  our  next  stopping  place,  we  got  a  more  substantial  wel 
come.  Almost  the  first  thing  that  attracted  our  attention  at  the  National  Capitol 
was  a  long,  low  building  with  the  words  "Soldiers'  Rest"  over  the  entrance. 
The  name  was  suggestive  and  inviting  and  the  colonel  lost  no  time  in  march 
ing  us  inside,  where  we  stacked  our  guns  and  got  a  good  meal  of  bread,  corned 
beef  ("salt  horse"  the  boys  called  it)  and  hot  coffee.  These  Soldiers'  Rests 
established  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  North  where  soldiers  were  likely  to 
pass  were  great  institutions.  Most  of  the  Union  soldiers  at  one  time  or  another 
\vere  cheered  and  made  happier  by  a  loaf  of  bread,  a  cup  of  coffee  or  a  night's 
lodging  without  money  and  without  price  at  these  "Rests  for  the  Weary"  as 
we  called  them. 

After  a  good  night's  sleep  on  the  floor  of  the  "Soldiers'  Rest,"  we  started 
out  in  the  morning  to  explore  the  city.  The  public  buildings  \ve  had  heard  'so 
much  about  of  course  were  especial  objects  of  interest.  I  remember  that  a 
squad  of  us  while  "doing"  the  Capitol  Building  climbed  up  the  winding  stairs 
to  the  unfinished  dome.  What  I  saw  from  there  made  such  an  impression 
on  my  mind  that  I  have  never  forgotten  it.  After  49  years  I  can  shut  my 
eyes  and  see  it  now.  To  a  country  boy  who  had  read  a  little  but  had  never 
been  away  from  home  to  amount  to  anything  the  panorama  spread  out  before 
us  from  that  dizzy  height  was  one  of  the  things  worth  living  for.  At  our  feet 
lay  the  Capitol  of  the  Nation.  Farther  away  the  blue  waters  of  the  Potomac, 
sparkling  in  the  morning  light,  flowed  leisurely  by.  Across  the  river  Arlington 
Heights,  made  jagged  and  rough  by  its  long  line  of  forts,  with  the  Stars  and 


268     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Stripes  waving  to  and  fro  in  the  breeze,  loomed  up  grandly  in  the  distance.  A 
very  faint  outline  this  of  the  picture  spread  out  before  us  on  that  beautiful 
October  morning  in  1861 ! 

The  same  day,  October  23d,  we  marched  a  few  miles  out  of  Washington  to 
Camp  Welsh  and  on  the  27th  the  regiment  moved  to  Camp  Casey  near  Bladens- 
burg. 

Tents  had  been  issued  to  us,  before  leaving  Washington,  big  enough  to 
accommodate  eight  men  comfortably  and  ten  or  twelve  upon  a  pinch.  I  re 
member  very  well  what  a  fuss  we  made  pitching  our  tents  the  first  time,  using 
many  such  expressions  as  our  wives  hear  when  the  time  comes  to  put  up  that 
stove  pipe! 

How  many  of  the  boys  remember  the  grand  review  held  at  Bailey's  Cross 
Roads  the  day  after  our  arrival  at  Camp  Casey?  Part  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  there.  Several  regiments  besides  our  own  at  Camp  Casey,  com 
manded  by  General  O.  O.  Howard,  took  part  in  the  review.  We  had  not  seen 
so  large  a  body  of  troops  together  before  and  the  manceuvers  of  these  soldiers, 
marching  and  countermarching  in  perfect  alignment  and  keeping  step  as  one 
man  to  the  tap  of  the  drum ;  the  waving  banners  and  long  lines  of  polished  gun 
barrels  and  gleaming  bayonets — all  this  was  very  beautiful  and  left  an  im 
pression  not  to  be  forgotten  over  night.  Such  was  the  romance  \and  splendor 
of  war;  the  stern  reality  came  later  on.  Of  course  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
"fuss  and  feathers"  about  the  review  and  a  good  deal  of  cheering  for  the  re 
viewing  officer,  General  McClellan,  who  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  fame. 
It  is  natural  for  soldiers  to  cheer  for  something  or  somebody  and  these  same 
troops,  or  many  of  them,  cheered  just  as  loud  for  Burnside,  Hooker,  Meade, 
and  Grant  later  on  as  they  did  for  McClellan  then. 

The  famous  Prince  Frederick  march,  which  others  will  describe,  was  made 
from  Camp  Casey.  The  expedition  started  Sunday  morning,  November  3d,  and 
was  gone  about  a  week.  Among  others  left  sick  and  unable  to  go  were  Moses 
Thompson  of  Company  G  and  myself.  Moses  stayed  in  the  captain's  tent, 
while  I  was  in  a  sort  of  field  hospital. 

Moses  Thompson  died  November  10th,  the  same  day,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
on  which  the  regiment  returned  from  Prince  Frederick.  The  death  of  Moses 
Thompson  was  the  first  to  occur  in  Company  G,  except  that  of  James  Franklin, 
who  died  November  9th  in  a  general  hospital.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  sick 
ness  in  camp  by  the  middle  of  November,  mostly  cases  of  pneumonia,  catarrh, 
measles,  diarrhoea  and  fevers,  .brought  on  by  exposure,  bad  water  and  the  low 
vitality  of  the  men.  Not  every  day  but  often  enough,  the  sound  of  muffled 
drums  and  the  Death  March  were  heard  in  Camp  Casey.  There  is  something 
so  peculiarly  solemn  and  mournful  about  this  Death  March  that  having  heard 
it  once,  especially  if  at  the  burial  of  one  we  love,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  for 
get  the  plaintive  melody.  Coming  to  a  sick  man  with  shattered  nerves  it 
makes  him  think  the  bottom  of  things  is  dropping  out !  I  have  been  there 
myself  and  know  how  it  is.  But  if  music  is  powerful  to  depress  it  is  also 
potent  to  charm.  Among  the  regiments  at  Camp  Casey  was  the  Fourth  Rhode 
Island.  This  regiment  had  a  splendid  military  band  that  frequently  gave  an 
open  air  evening  concert  that  could  be  distinctly  heard  all  over  the  camp,  and 


Organization  of  Company  H  269 

it  was  affecting  to  see  the  sick  come  out  with  their  pale  faces  and  emaciated 
forms  to  hear  the  Rhode  Island  band  play  "Yankee  Doodle,"  "Hail  Columbia"  and 
other  lively  pieces.  That  sort  of  thing  was  better  for  them  than  medicine. 

Being  sadly  under  the  weather  myself  most  of  the  time  at  Camp  Casey  my 
recollection  of  the  place  is  anything  but  pleasant.  November  19th  we  got  orders 
to  pack  up  and  be  ready  to  move.  At  last  I  could  say  something  in  favor  of 
Camp  Casey.  It  was  a  good  place  to  leave ! 

Marching  alongside  the  railroad  late  in  the  afternoon  we  stacked  our  guns 
and  waited  long  hours,  in  fact  until  near  midnight,  for  the  cars  to  come  along. 
It  was  bitter  cold.  We  put  on  our  overcoats  and  built  roaring  fires,  which: 
helped  some,  but  it  would  be  stretching  it  a  lot  to  say  that  any  of  us  were  com 
fortable. 

An  agreeable  surprise  awaited  us  in  Baltimore  next  morning.  The  citizens 
actually  treated  us  with  a  delightful  luncheon  of  bread  and  butter  and  cheese 
and  after  a  long  restriction  to  government  rations  that  sort  of  thing  tasted 
mighty  good.  Our  journey  from  Baltimore  down  Chesapeake  Bay  in  the  trans 
port  "Pocahontas"  was  very  pleasant.  Traveling  by  water  was  something  new 
to  most  of  us  and  I  suppose  the  boys  enjoyed  it.  Sickness,  however,  '.spoiled 
the  trip  for  me.  The  only  incident  of  note  I  can  recall  is  that  a  school  of  por 
poises  seemed  to  be  following  in  the  wake  of  our  vessel  and  were  in  sight 
most  of  the  day.  Swimming  in  line,  like  a  company  of  soldiers,  as  they  did,  it 
was  fun  to  watch  them  churn  the  water  and  by  their  snuffing  and"  blowing  fill 
the  air  with  clouds  of  mist  and  spray.  To  me  the  antics  of  these  fish  were  very 
interesting. 

Saturday,  November  23d,  we  landed  at  Old  Point  Comfort,  or  Fortress 
Monroe,  at  the  mouth  of  the  James  and  York  Rivers.  Most  that  I  remember 
about  this  place  is  that  they  put  me  in  a  hospital  tent  where  I  stepped  into  a 
puddle  of  water  every  time  I  got  out  of  bed.  Later  on  a  couple  of  soldiers 
carried  me  up  to  the  third  or  fourth  story  of  the  old  Hygeia  Hotel,  then  used 
as  a  general  hospital.  Typhoid-pneumonia,  measles  and  neuralgia  didn't  quite 
finish  me  but  left  their  mark  which  the  lapse  of  49  years  has  not  entirely 
effaced.  It  was  not  until  January  12th,  1862,  that  I  got  aboard  the  transport 
"S.  R.  Spaulding"  to  join  the  regiment  in  South  Carolina. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  COMPAY  H. 

Company  H  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry  was  or 
ganized  at  Tioga,  Tioga  County,  Pa.,  September  18th,  1861,  with  E.  G.  Scheiffelin 
as  captain,  E.  G.  Howard  as  first  lieutenant,  R.  H.  Close  as  second  lieutenant 
and  L.  D.  Seely  as  orderly  sergeant.  The  boys  that  started  for  the  war  thai 
day,  as  I  remember,  were  all  boys  that  were  born  and  brought  up  in  the 
country. 

I  will  give  the  names  of  the  men  in  the  company  and  will  mark  those  that 
were  married  with  the  letter  M,  and  the  others  were  S  : 

John  C.  Roosa,  S;  Joel  E.  Smith,  S;  B.  C.  Hynes,  S;  M.  Gillett  Holliday, 
M ;  Cyrus  Mann,  M ;  William  H.  Dunham,  M ;  Aaron  Benson,  M ;  John  H. 
Hotchkiss,  M;  Robert  A.  Lovejoy,  S;  Nathan  Edwards,  M;  N.  R.  Shappe,  M; 
Daniel  Church,  S;  Rodolphus  Fuller  S;  Reuben  Daniels,  S;  Van  R.  W.  Bal- 


2/o     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

lard,  S ;  Nelson  Hackett,  S ;  Charles  Walton,  M ;  George  W.  Tremaine,  S ; 
Ira  Odel,  S;  H.  F.  Odell,  M;  H.  Calvin  Colney,  M;  Deruyter  Avery,  S; 
Thomas  Dingman,  S;  Thomas  M.  Jobe.  S.  The  latter  was  the  first  man  killed 
by  a  Rebel  ball  on  James  Island,  S.  C,  June  10th,  1862. 

We  had  a  number  of  men  die  before  we  got  in  battle.  The  Prince  Frederick 
march  killed  two  of  the  strongest  men  we  had  in  the  company.  They  were  Wal 
ter  Ballard  and  Nelson  Hackett. 

We  had  more  men  who  went  from  near  Tioga: 

George  Sawyer,  M ;  Harvey  Sawyer,  S ;  Lewis  Sawyer,  M ;  James  Soules,  S ; 
James  Meyers,  S ;  James  Lovee,  M ;  William  Utter,  M ;  William  R.  Gee,  S ; 
V.  B.  Holliday,  M ;  Hiram  Pickering,  S ;  Clark  Ames,  S ;  George  Couch,  S ; 
Levi  R.  Robb,  S,  one  of  the  best  soldiers  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  with  a 
piece  of  shell.  He  lived  one  week  and  then  died.  He  was  wounded  in  the  arm 
at  Cold  Harbor,  the  3rd  of  June,  1864,  and  I  gave  the  fellow  that  wounded 
him  his  discharge. 

Lieutenant  George  Scudder  of  Company  F  commanded  Company  H  in  that 
battle  until  he  was  killed,  about  the  third  round  after  they  opened  fire.  He 
said  the  orders  were  not  to  fire  until  we  received  orders.  I  said  that  I  didn't 
care,  that  I  came  out  for  that  purpose  and  wrhen  a  man  steps  out  to  shoot  us 
and  I  have  a  good  shot,  I  will  take  it  orders  or  no  orders.  I  got  knocked  out, 
in  about  five  minutes  after  Scudder  was  killed,  with  a  ball  through  my  right 
lung,  so  I  did  not  help  take  Richmond. 

We  had  so  many  cnanges  in  officers  that  I  can't  tell  where  all  come  in  or 
how  some  of  them  got  in.  After  Scheiffelin  got  to  be  major  or  acted  as  major, 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Edgar  F.  Austin  was  captain. 

L.  D.  Seely  commanded  the  company  after  the  Vicksburg  campaign  and 
we  got  back  to  Kentucky.  Sixteen  of  us  were  left  back  there  to  guard  the 
Hickman  bridge  on  the  Little  Kentucky  River.  Austin  was  with  us  there  and 
when  we  received  orders  to  join  the  regiment,  Levi  Robb  had  command  and 
we  never  saw  Austin  afterwards.  L.  D.  Seely  was  a  good  officer  and  the  men 
all  liked  him. 

After  we  got  to  Harrisburg  a  good  many  more  joined  the  company  from 
Tioga  County.  All  were  from  Tioga  County  with  the  exception  of  two,  Wil 
liam  E.  Parker  from  Ralston,  Lycoming  County,  and  Daniel  Mix  from  Tomp- 
kins  County,  N.  Y.  The  latter  deserted  us  at  Paris,  Ky.,  with  another  man 
by  the  name  of  Stephen  I.  French.  After  we  reenlisted  and  came  home,  we 
took  back  with  us  a  number  of  recruits.  Two  of  them  were  noble  boys  and 
boys  that  had  the  fight  in  them.  Elliot  A.  Kilbonrne,  Major  Kilbourne's  son, 
only  15  or  16  years  old,  was  one.  He  was  wounded  at  Spottsylvania,  Va.  When 
carrying  him  back,  he  cheered  for  the  old  flag,  and  said :  "Boys,  don't  ever 
give  up  until  you  whip  them."  The  other  boy  was  William  R.  Gee.  In  the 
Battle  of  the  Wilderness  he  had  his  big  toe  shot  off  all  but  a  little  skin.  When 
he  took  off  his  shoe,  I  said:  "Go  back  to  the  rear."  "No,"  he  said,  "you  do 
it  up,  I  am  not  going  to  leave  the  company."  I  bandaged  it  the  best  I  could 
and  he  staid  and  marched  right  along  with  us.  At  the  time  the  fort  was  blown 
up  at  Petersburg,  he  was  excused  from  duty  with  a  felon  on  his  hand  but  he 


Organization  of  Company  I  271 

said  he  was  going  with  the  rest  of  us  and  did  go  and  was  taken  prisoner  and 
died  in  old  Wirz's  hotel  at  Andersonville. 

There  were  others  just  as  brave  as  those  boys,  I  suppose.  Gee  was  my  cousin 
but  I  don't  know  that  I  was  as  brave.  One  more  good  boy  who  was  killed,  one 
of  the  first  lot,  was  Frank  Stratton.  He  was  killed  at  Jackson,  Miss.  The  next 
one  was  William  E.  Parker,  who  was  captured  at  Campbell's  Station,  Tenn.,  and 
died  at  Andersonville.  There  were  others  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md.  Joel 

E.  Smith,  Aaron  Benson,  J.  N.  Hodkiss,  Aaron  Burr,  M.   G.  Holliday,  James 
Tremaine  and  David  French.     At  the  Wilderness  we  lost  three  men.     Isaac  H. 
Sherman  was  killed.     Levi  Robb  and  I  found  him  after  the  battle.     Clark  Ames 
was    also    killed    there.     William    Utter    died    at    Andersonville.      Several    were 
wrounded.    A  new  recruit,  William  A.  Mosher,  was  hurt  very  badly.    Cyrus  Mann 
died  at  Camp  Dick  Robinson  after  the  Vicksburg  campaign.     There  were  others 
that  I  do  not  think  of. 

Those  who  were  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  the  3d  of  June,  before  I  was  knocked 
out,  were  Griffin  Palmer,  Thomas  Dingman  and  a  man  by  the  name  of  H.  F. 
Bowen,  who  was  a  recruit.  Robert  Martin  was  wounded  and  taken  to  Washing 
ton  with  me  and  died  three  or  four  days  afterwards. 

What  I  have  penned  here  has  been  from  memory  as  I  lost  both  of  my  diaries 
when  I  was  knocked  out. 

JOHN  C.  ROOSA, 
Company  H,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  COMPANY  I 

Company  I,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  was  recruited  and  organized 
in  Tioga  County. 

F.  M.  Hills  having  served  under  General  Scott  in  the  Mexican  War  took 
the  initiative  in  the  work  by  writing  a  letter  to  Governor  Curtin  asking  permis 
sion  to  raise  a  company  of  infantry  and  in  reply  received  the  following  communi 
cation  : 

HARRISBURG,  August  19th,  1861. 

F.  M.  HILLS,  Wellsboro,  Pa. 
Dear   Sir  :— 

The  smallest  number  of  officers  and  men  for  a  company  of  infantry  is  83. 
If  you  raise  a  company  yon  will  inform  me  when  you  are  ready  to  move  to 
this  point  when  an  order  for  transportation  will  be  furnished  you  and  you  will 
be  subsisted  on  arrival.  Very  respectfully, 

(Signed)     CRAIG  BIDDLE, 

A.  D.  C. 

The  next  act  that  there  is  any  record  of  was  a  meeting  held  at  Liberty,  Sep 
tember  10th,  to  be  addressed  by  Dr.  W.  W.  Webb  and  other  speakers.  This 
meeting  seemed  to  have  been  a  failure  as  there  were  no  enlistments  from  that 
part  of  the  county. 

About  this  time  recruiting  commenced  in  earnest  in  Delmar  and  the  north 
western  portion  of  the  county.  Meetings  were  held  in  school  houses  and  churches 
which  were  usually  filled  to  overflowing. 


272     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Captain  Hills  was  very  active  in  the  work  as  the  muster  roll  shows  that  48 
out  of  60  that  went  from  there  were  credited  to  him. 

About  the  25th  of  September  a  sufficient  number  having  been  enrolled  to 
assure  the  raising  of  a  full  company,  the  time  was  fixed  to  start  for  Harrisburg, 
which  was  the  27th,  and  on  the  morning  of  that  date  every  one  of  them  was  on 
hand  and  ready  to  go  but  owing  to  the  bad  condition  of  the  roads  caused  by  the 
heavy  rain  of  the  night  and  early  morning  and  dearth  of  conveyances  the  move 
was  postponed  until  Monday,  the  30th. 

During  the  interim  we  were  quartered  at  the  hotel  of  David  Hart,  which 
stood  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Queen  streets  where  now  stands  the  residence 
of  Carl  Bernkopf.  The  first  day  a  meeting  of  the  company  was  held  in  the 
court  house  and  the  following  company  officers  were  elected:  Captain,  F.  M. 
Hills ;  first  lieutenant,  G.  D.  Smith ;  second  lieutenant,  G.  M.  Ackley ;  first  ser 
geant,  Samuel  Haynes. 

The  most  of  the  time  was  occupied  taking  our  first  lessons  in.  military  drill 
with  Sergeant  Haynes  as  drillmaster,  who  having  served  three  months  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  war,  proved  himself  to  be  very  proficient  in  that  capacity. 

Some  of  the  boys  went  home  to  spend  Sunday  but  the  most  of  them  stayed 
in  Wellsboro,  not  carying  to  repeat  the  scenes  of  a  few  days  before  when  they 
took  final  leave  of  their  families  and  other  dear  ones. 

Monday  morning  found  the  boys  all  on  hand  ready  for  the  trip  overland  to 
Troy  and  when  all  were  aboard,  the  word  forward  march  was  given  and  we 
were  off  amid  the  shouts  and  good  wishes  of  the  people  of  Wellsboro. 

Nothing  of  particular  interest  occurred  on  the  way  and  we  arrived  safely  at 
Troy  about  5  P.  M.,  and  an  hour  later  got  oi>  board  the  cars  and  were  soon  on 
our  way  to  Harrisburg,  where  we  arrived  about  two  o'clock  the  next  morning. 
There  was  no  place  for  us  to  sleep  except  on  the  floor  in  the  depot,  which  was 
not  very  inviting  to  those  who  had  slept  on  feather  beds,  so  we  put  in  the 
time  as  best  we  could  until  daylight  came  to  our  relief  when  we  fell  in  line  and 
marched  to  Camp  Curtin.  The  first  thing  we  did  was  to  draw  our  rations  and 
through  the  courtesy  of  Company  G  we  cooked  it  at  their  quarters.  After  par 
taking  of  our  first  army  rations  we  were  assigned  our  quarters  and  when  night 
came  were  in  our  own  tents. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  at  camp  details  were  made  and  sent  back  to  recruit 
so  as  to  fill  the  company  and  the  muster  roll  shows  the  following  named  mem 
bers  have  been  credited  with  assisting  in  the  work :  G.  M.  Ackley,  G.  D.  Smith, 
R.  I.  Reynolds,  Josiah  Emery,  Samuel  Haynes,  O.  H.  Andrews,  A.  C.  Ellsworth; 
I.  D  Strait,  E.  B.  Garvey. 

Those  engaged  in  recruiting  were  very  successful  as  the  muster  roll  shows 
that  on  October  16th  there  were  95  officers  and  men  accepted  after  examination 
by  the  surgeon  and  one  rejected. 

At  this  time  we  all  were  quite  anxious  to  know  to  what  regiment  we  were 
going  to  be  assigned.  We  had  seen  Colonel  Welsh,  who  was  then  making  up 
his  regiment,  and  he  had  made  a  very  favorable  impression  on  us,  therefore  he 
was  our  first  choice  for  our  commander  and  on  the  18th  a  note  to  Captain  Hills 
stating  that  his  company  was  assigned  to  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  in  place  of 
Captain  Lyons'  company  was  received  with  a  cheer. 


tph.    C.   Myers,      2™   Lieut,   Co.  K. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  273 

Having  now  received  our  arms  and  accoutrements  we  came  out  full  fledged 
soldiers  and  on  the  21st  of  October  were  lined  up  on  the  drill  ground  when 
Governor  Curtin  presented  the  colonel  with  the  regulation  flag,  and  said  to  him, 
"Bring  it  back  in  honor  or  not  at  all." 

About  noon  we  boarded  the  train  and  were  soon  on  our  way  to  Washing 
ton,  where  we  arrived  the  next  day,  and  now  begins  the  history  of  the  regiment, 
which  is  told  by  others  much  more  competent  to  perform  the  task  than  myself. 

SYLVESTER  HOUGHTON. 


THREE  YEARS'  AND  FIVE  MONTHS'  EXPERIENCE 
OF  AN  ORANGE  RECRUIT 

BY  EPHRAIM  E.  MYERS. 

During  the  winter  of  1861  and  1862  the  country  was  in  a  state  of  great  up 
roar.  Our  small  village  was  worked  up  to  the  highest  pitch  of  excitement.  There 
were  in  Newtown,  Lancaster  County,  probably  a  dozen  young  men,  who  generally 
met  in  an  old  shoemaker's  shop  to  talk  war  and  play  checkers.  At  that  time  we 
thought  six  months  would  end  the  war. 

On  February  25th,  1862,  a  number  of  us  village  and  country  boys  were  in 
the  shop.  Someone  suggested  that  we  go  to  Columbia,  about  three  miles  away, 
and  enlist.  Colonel  Welsh  had  opened  a  recruiting  office  at  that  place.  Five  of 
the  boys  went,  namely :  Andrew  Hostetter,  Jacob  W.  Kling,  who  were  from 
Donegal  Township;  Benjamin  F.  Divit,  Samuel  E.  Myers  and  Ephraim  E.  Myers 
from  Newtown.  I  was  the  only  married  man  in  the  squad ;  I  left  a  baby  boy 
five  months  old,  namesake  of  Colonel  Ephraim  Ellsworth. 

Colonel  Welsh  succeeded  in  recruiting  a  number  of  young  men  from  Colum 
bia  and  the  surrounding  country.  We  were  sworn  into  the  State  service  February 
25th,  1862,  and  mustered  into  the  United  States  service  two  days  later.  The 
regiment  we  had  joined  was  then  stationed  on  various  islands  in  South  Carolina. 
As  we  had  big  ideas  of  feasting  on  oranges  and  had  boasted  of  it,  we  were 
humorously  dubbed  "The  Orange  Recruits." 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  28th  we  took  cars  for  New  York  City,  and  a 
happier  lot  of  boys  you  never  saw.  We  sang  all  kinds  of  songs ;  one  rings  in 
my  ears  to-day: 

"If  you  belong  to  Gideon's  Band, 
Oh,  here's  my  heart  and  here's  my  hand." 

About  noon  we  boarded  the  vessel  which  was  called  the  "Atlantic."  I  knew 
nothing  of  sickness  and  felt  sure  I  would  not  get  seasick  but  along  about  dusk 
I  began  to  feel  squeamish.  As  we  neared  Cape  Hatteras,  it  was  rather  danger 
ous  on  deck,  so  we  went  into  the  hold  which  was  full  of  grain  sacks  and  baled 
hay.  I  lay  down  on  a  bale  and  about  every  time  the  vessel  rocked  my  stomach 
turned.  A  sicker  man  never  was.  Distressed  as  I  was,  I  had  to  laugh  at 
some  Germans.  Large  waves  broke  continuously  over  the  deck.  One  of  the 
hatch  holes  being  open  water  dashed  down  upon  us.  The  Germans  began  to 
pray  powerfully  and  cried  out  dismally,  "Mein  Gott,  mein  Gott,  mein  Gott!" 


274     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

There  were  not  a  dozen  of  us,  other  than  the  sailors  on  board,  who  were  not 
sick.  The  colonel  was  among  the  sick.  Our  appetites  were  totally  gone ;  the 
rations  we  had  we  could  not  eat.  The  sailors  said  we  had  made  very  little  head 
way  on  account  of  the  storm.  It  took  us  about  three  or  four  days  to  reach  Port 
Royal,  S.  C. 

After  we  made  port,  we  remained  on  board  some  time  before  we  landed. 
The  high  wind  was  driving  the  sand  on  the  mainland  in  regular  clouds.  After 
landing  we  remained  several  days  at  Port  Royal.  We  walked  out  into  the 
country  reconnoitering  for  oranges.  We  found  a  few  trees,  but  the  fruit  un 
palatable.  We  were  greatly  disappointed.  We  met  a  number  of  the  Seventy- 
sixth  Pennsylvania  Zouaves,  quartered  at  Port  Royal,  some  of  whom  were  from 
Lancaster  County. 

We  left  there  about  the  llth  of  March  and  arrived  at  Otter  Island  on  the 
morning  of  the  12th,  the  same  morning  that  Colonel  Beaver  arrived1  with  Com 
panies  K  and  H.  Captain  Rambo  was  brought  to  our  camp  a  corpse. 

Landing  on  Otter  Island  we  were  attached  to  Company  K.  After  Captain 
Rambo's  death  (killed  when  Company  H,  by  mistake,  fired  into  Company  K), 
First  Lieutenant  Edwin  Kelsey  was  promoted  captain.  He  was  well  liked  by  the 
boys.  While  on  Otter  Island  we  did  guard  duty  and  drove  piles  around  the  fort. 
We  also  did  picket  duty  on  Fenwick  Island,  which  was  several  miles  north  of 
Otter  Island.  The  principal  enemy  we  had  to  fight  was  the  sand  flea ;  he  was  a 
terror,  attacking  by  night. 

I  ate  my  first  South  Carolina  blackberries  on  April  25th.  They  were  of  the 
dewberry  variety  and  very  plentiful. 

While  on  Otter  Island  we  made  frequent  visits  to  different  parts  of  the 
island,  which  was  the  home  of  the  alligator.  Capturing  alligators  was  our  de 
light.  One  day  a  squad  of  the  boys  was  out  reconnoitering  for  them.  We 
found  one ;  he  was  soon  dispatched  with  an  ax  and  measured  in  length  six  feet 
two  inches.  This  gave  us  a  chance  to  eat  alligator  meat.  It  tasted  much  like 
fish,  only  a  little  strong.  A  large  sea  turtle  was  also  caught  on  the  beach.  It 
weighed  about  300  pounds,  contained  125  eggs  ready  to  lay  and  innumerable 
small  ones.  The  turtle  made  all  the  soup  the  boys  wished  to  eat. 

From  Otter  Island  we  went  on  scows  to  North  Edisto  Island  and  thence 
to  Johns  Island.  It  was  May  but  the  weather  was  cold,  and  I  shall  never  forget 
one  night  I  spent  on  picket  duty  on  Johns  Island.  It  rained  continuously;  our 
guns  were  rendered  useless.  I  said  "Boys,  if  we  can  stand  this,  we  can 
stand  any  other  kind  of  hardship  that  may  come  to  us."  After  marching  across 
Johns  Island  we  stopped  at  a  small  village  called  Rutledge;  we  were  without 
rations.  Our  captain  bought  a  preparation  to  make  coffee,  but  the  coffee  was 
not  fit  to  drink.  We  were  next  sent  to  James  Island;  we  remained  there  some 
time. 

On  June  10th,  1862,  we  undertook  to  capture  Secessionville  and  were  de 
feated.  From  this  place  we  returned  to  Port  Royal  and  remained  there  probably 
two  weeks  or  more.  About  the  middle  of  July  we  received  orders  to  go  north 
again.  We  landed  and  went  into  camp  at  Newport  News,  Va.  We  had  fine  quar 
ters.  Mrs.  Welsh,  the  colonel's  wife,  paid  him  a  visit.  She  was  much  inter- 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit 


ested  in  camp  life ;  she  intently  watched  the  boys  come  with  their  black  tin  cups 
for  coffee. 

Card  playing  was  one  of  the  standard  amusements.  One  day  the  colonel, 
passing  down  our  company  street,  heard  Brannon,  one  of  the  boys,  say :  "Spades 
is  trump."  The  colonel  pushed  the  tent  fly  aside  and  looking  in  saw  who  it  was. 
Not  long  afier  a  guard  took  Brannan.  He  was  put  to  digging  a  sink.  While 
busy  at  his  work,  the  colonel  came  along,  remarking,  "Spades  is  trump,"  and 
added,  "hereafter  when  you  play  cards  you  must  make  less  noise."  Private  John 
Elder  died  July  29th,  1862,  of  typhoid  fever. 

We  remained  at  Newport  News  until  the  10th  of  September,  when  we  broke 
camp  for  our  campaign  through  Maryland  to  South  Mountain  and  Antietam. 
The  Battle  of  South  Mountain  was  fought  September  14th  and  the  great  Battle 
of  Antietam,  September  17th,  1862.  On  the  march  to  South  Mountain  I  gave 
out,  but  got  as  far  as  Middletown,  Md.  From  the  hospital  I  could  see  the  firing 
of  cannon  up  on  South  Mountain.  I  was  taken  from  Middletown  to  the  hospital 
at  Baltimore  and  remained  there  until  after  the  Battle  of  Frederieksburg.  It 
was  some  time  in  February,  1863,  I  rejoined  my  company. 

One  day  at  Falmouth  I  was  on  picket  duty  along  the  Rappahannock.  There 
were  probably  five  men  on  the  post  with  me.  Johnnies  were  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  about  100  yards  off.  As  the  pickets  were  on  friendly  terms,  the  John 
nies  proposed  exchanging  tobacco  for  our  coffee ;  to  which  we  agreed.  Three  of 
the  Johnnies  then  got  into  an  old  boat  and  came  across,  leaving  their  guns  be 
hind.  When  within  15  or  20  feet  of  the  shore,  they  said :  "Now,  Yanks,  be  hon 
est."  I  said :  "Come  on,  you  will  be  all  right."  They  landed  and  the  exchange 
was  made.  I  asked  one  fine  looking  young  man  among  them  what  regiment  he 
belonged  to.  He  said  he  was  from  Mississippi.  I  said  to  him :  "Here  we  are 
friends,  probably  an  hour  from  now  we  will  be  shooting  at  each  other."  They 
made  their  stay  short  as  this  kind  of  treaty-making  was  contrary  to  all  military 
rules. 

We  left  Falmouth,  Va.,  the  latter  part  of  February,  1863,  for  Acquia  Creek, 
where  Company  K  and  the  regimental  headquarters  were  stationed.  We  re 
mained  there  several  weeks.  Other  portions  of  our  regiment  at  this  time  did 
guard  duty  along  the  railroad  running  from  Acquia  Creek  to  Frederieksburg. 

The  latter  part  of  March  we  broke  camp  at  Acquia  Creek.  We  embarked 
on  a  boat,  the  name  forgotten,  for  Baltimore,  where  we  took  cars  over  the  Bal 
timore  &  Ohio  Railroad  for  Cincinnati,  O.  It  was  a  long  journey  and  especially 
uncomfortable  as  we  were  riding  in  freight  cars,  with  rough  board  seats,  packed 
so  full  there  was  no  room  to  lie  down.  The  scenery  through  which  we  passed 
was  wildly  grand  and  the  journey  throughout  one  of  thrilling  interest  to  us  all. 

On  this  trip  we  passed  through  Point  of  Rocks,  Berlin,  Sandy  Hook  and 
Harpers  Ferry,  all  familiar  places.  The  country  grew  mountainous  as  we  ad 
vanced.  We  passed  through  ten  or  more  large  tunnels  before  reaching  Park- 
ersburg  on  the  Ohio  River,  where  we  embarked  on  a  steamer  and  had  a  very 
pleasant  trip  to  Cincinnati.  On  April  1st  we  crossed  over  to  Covington,  Ky., 
where  we  took  cars  for  Paris,  the  county  seat  of  Bourbon  County.  The  county, 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  state,  was  famous  for  fine  bred  horses.  We  encamped 
in  the  fair  grounds.  We  remained  a  short  time  at  Paris.  On  one  occasion  the 


276     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

regiment  was  called  to  dress  parade.  The  regiment  went  through  the  manual 
of  arms  by  tap  of  drum.  This  drill,  in  which  we  were  expert,  was  something 
entirely  new  to  the  citizens  of  Paris,  of  whom  a  large  number  were  pleased  spec 
tators. 

On  or  about  the  8th  of  April  we  broke  camp  and  took  cars  for  Nicholas- 
ville,  Ky.  We  reached  there  late  in  the  afternoon.  The  next  morning  we  re 
sumed  our  way.  I  shall  never  forget  that  15  miles  march  to  Bryantsville.  We 
reached  Camp  Dick  Robinson  in  the  afternoon;  it  had  been  occupied  by  Gen 
eral  Bragg,  who  quietly  vacated  it  upon  the  approach  of  our  troops. 

About  April  30th  we  left  camp  Dick  Robinson  and  passed  through  the  towns 
of  Lancaster  and  Stamford,  arriving  at  Htistonville,  Ky.,  about  May  24,  remain 
ing  there  a  few  days.  The  Union  citizens  of  Hustonville  gave  us  a  splendid 
dinner.  While  at  this  place  an  incident  occurred  which  caused  a  great  deal  of 
fun  and  laughter.  One  day  several  of  us  took  a  walk.  I  captured  two  black 
snakes  alive.  Holding  both  of  them  in  my  right  hand  with  their  heads  between 
my  fingers  and  their  bodies  coiled  tightly  about  my  arm,  we  started  back  to 
camp.  In  one  of  the  tents  was  Simon  Sanders.  I  opened  the  fly  of  his  tent  and 
said,  as  I  pushed  the  snakes  toward  him:  "Simon,  how  is  that?"  He  yelled 
like  an  Indian,  "Myers,  get  out  of  here,  or  I'll  kill  you."  Without  taking  fur 
ther  notice  of  me,  he  jumped  out  of  the  rear  of  the  tent  and  ran  as  if  the  daddy 
of  all  snakes  was  after  him. 

From  Hustonville  we  passed  through  Middleburgh,  Liberty  and  several 
other  towns,  but  finally  on  June  6th  we  reached  Lebanon,  Ky.  There  we  took 
cars  for  Louisville,  where  we  crossed  the  Ohio  River  to  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  re 
maining  there  until  about  the  13th  of  June.  On  the  14th  of  June  we  embarked 
on  a  steamer  and  started  down  the  Ohio  for  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

A  ridiculous  incident  occurred  on  the  15th  day  of  June.  One  of  the  boys 
bought  a  large  catfish,  which  were  plentiful  in  the  Mississippi.  He  stuffed  a 
deck  of  cards  into  the  fish.  When  he  cleaned  it  he  found  the  cards.  This  ex 
cited  the  boys,  who  flocked  around  him;  each  wanted  a  card  for  a  memento  to 
send  home.  If  I  remember  correctly  I  selected  the  king  of  hearts.  But  the 
joke  was  too  good  to  keep.  It  finally  leaked  out  of  the  joker  and  the  boys 
did  not  keep  the  cards. 

Our  trip  down  the  big  river  was  a  very  pleasant  one.  We  arrived  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yazoo  on  the  16th  of  June.  We  went  up  that  river  to  Milldale, 
where  we  landed  and  marched  to  the  rear  of  Vicksburg.  We  remained  there 
watching  General  Joseph  Johnston,  who  it  was  understood,  intended  an  attack 
on  General  Grant.  General  Pemberton  surrendered  to  General  Grant  on  the 
Fourth  of  July.  There  was  great  rejoicing  at  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  and  defeat 
of  General  Lee  at  Gettysburg. 

Hardly  had  the  news  of  the  surrender  become  known  before  orders  came  to 
break  camp.  General  Sherman  commanded  the  army  which  started  out  to  cap 
ture  or  destroy  Johnston's  army.  Johnston  had  fallen  back  to  Jackson,  the 
capitol  of  Mississippi.  There  had  been  some  fighting  between  Vicksburg  and 
Jackson.  Our  Company  K  was  provost  guard  at  General  Welsh's  headquarters, 
hence  we  had  no  fighting  to  do.  We  did  some  foraging  on  our  own  account  and 
an  incident  occurred  on  this  line  which  I  will  relate. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  277 

While  on  the  march  a  short  distance  beyond  the  Big  Black  River,  Thomas 
Kelley  and  myself,  while  foraging  came  to  a  farm  and  fine  residence  occupied 
by  several  cultured  ladies  and  some  negro  servants.  We  found  in  the  yard  a 
colony  of  bees.  The  form  of  the  boxes  was  odd,  12  inches  square  at  the  end  and 
about  three  feet  long,  closed  at  the  top.  Kelley  was  afraid  of  bees,  so  I  grabbed 
a  long  box  hive,  running  with  it  over  my  shoulder  into  a  deep  woods  close  by 
which  skirted  the  field.  We  built  an  oak  leaf  fire,  knocked  off  the  top  of  the  box 
and  smoked  the  swarm  down  into  the  lower  part  of  it,  tearing  out  the  rich  upper 
combs.  We  squeezed  our  canteens  full  of  honey.  Leaning  the  box  against  a  tree 
we  hurried  to  rejoin  our  rapidly  moving  column.  The  honey  did  not  last  long, 
soldiers  are  always  ready  to  share  their  provender  with  comrades. 

Brother  Samuel  and  Andrew  Hostetter  ran  away  from  Company  K  and 
joined  Company  I  of  our  regiment,  in  order  that  they  might  get  into  the  next 
fight. 

July  17th  was  the  time  selected  to  make  the  general  attack  along  the  whole 
line  around  Jackson,  but  General  Johnston  was  not  there  on  the  morning  the  at 
tack  was  to  be  made ;  he  had  retreated  that  night,  leaving  in  our  hands  some 
prisoners. 

The  Ninth  Corps  returned  to  the  rear  of  Vicksburg  and  there  we  remained 
for  some  time.  A  great  many  of  the  regiment  were  taken  sick  here.  General 
Welsh  was  taken  down  with  the  black  fever.  On  or  about  the  4th  of  August  we 
broke  camp  and  proceeded  to  Milldale  Landing.  On  August  5th,  about  3  P.  M., 
the  regiment  marched  aboard  the  fine  steamer  "Hiawatha"  in  company  with  the 
Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts,  Twenty-seventh  Michigan  and  the  regulars  of  Bat 
tery  E.  All  night  of  the  5th  the  boat  moved  slowly  north  on  the  Mississippi. 
Being  heavily  laden  her  crowded  condition  made  it  a  very  tedious  journey  for 
all.  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  6th  the  boat  passed  Columbus,  Ark. 

August  7th,  all  day,  we  were  moving  slowly  up  the  river  and  at  sunset  stopped 
about  20  minutes  at  Helena,  Ark.,  for  provisions.  We  arrived  at  Memphis  on 
the  morning  of  the  8th,  the  men  were  landed  on  an  island  a  short  distance  above 
the  city,  where  they  remained  while  the  boat  was  thoroughly  cleaned,  and  at  5 
P.  M.,  we  reembarked  and  were  off  again.  August  the  9th  was  Sunday ;  in  the 
forenoon  divine  services  were  held  by  our  chaplain. 

Monday,  August  10th,  9  A.  M.,  we  arrived  at  Cairo,  111.  Late  in  the  after 
noon  our  regiment  was  transferred  to  cars  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  We 
rode  all  night,  all  of  next  day  and  late  in  the  evening  reached  Vincennes.  At 
noon,  August  the  12th,  we  arrived  at  Cincinnati.  We  crossed  the  river  to  Cov- 
ington,  Ky.,  and  found  quarters  in  some  barracks. 

Friday,  August  14th,  at  Cincinnati,  our  dear  General  Welsh  died.  Several 
of  us  went  over  to  see  him.  When  I  looked  upon  him  I  wept  like  a  child,  for  I 
loved  him  as  an  officer.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  Company  K,  we  were  his  pro 
vost  guard  and  recruited  by  him  in  his  own  town.  His  body  was  immediately 
sent  home  to  Columbia  under  a  detail  from  Company  K. 

Monday,  August  17th,  the  regiment  took  cars  and  after  riding  all  night  ar 
rived  again  at  Nicholasville.  Thence  we  marched  once  more  into  Camp  Dick 
Robinson.  About  August  28th  we  again  broke  camp  for  a  long  march  into  East 


278     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Tennessee.  We  passed  through  Crab  Orchard,  Barboursville,  and  several  other 
small  towns. 

On  our  march  to  Cumberland  Gap  we  met  the  Confederate  General  Frazier 
and  his  command,  captured  at  Cumberland  Gap  by  the  Twenty-third  Army  Corps. 
There  were  about  2,200  prisoners.  We  saw  General  Frazier  riding  in  an  am 
bulance.  Our  march  to  and  over  Cumberland  Gap  was  very  rough  and  hard. 
We  passed  over  the  mountain  about  September  20th.  The  view  from  the  top  is 
grand,  three  states  come  together  here,  so  that  we  could  see  into  Virginia,  Ken 
tucky  and  Tennessee  at  the  same  time.  On  the  very  top  there  was  a  fine  spring 
of  water.  On  the  Tennessee  side  of  the  mountain  flows  Yellow  Springs,  a  very 
large  stream.  Continuing  our  march  for  East  Tennessee  we  passed  through* 
Tazewell,  a  considerable  town.  We  crossed  the  Clinch  and  Holston  Rivers  by 
fording.  The  current  was  pretty  swift  but  not  deep ;  I  got  across  without  a  duck 
ing,  but  some  of  the  boys  were  not  so  fortunate.  We  arrived  at  Morristownt, 
September  22d,  and  continued  our  march  to  Knoxville. 

Our  next  move  was  retrograde.  We  stopped  at  Bulls  Gap  on  the  way  to 
Blue  Springs.  There  we  went  into  a  two  days'  camp.  Before  the  boys  had 
guns  stacked,  cotton-tails  were  running  in  all  directions.  I  never  saw  so  many 
wild  rabbits  at  one  time  as  I  did  there.  Every  one  was  anxious  to  catch  a  bunny. 
We  caught  a  great  number  by  knocking  them  down  with  sticks  and  stones.  They 
certainly  tasted  good  to  'us. 

The  Battle  of  Blue  Springs  occurred  October  10th.  As  we  were  nearing 
that  place  we  met  some  of  our  cavalry.  We  remarked  to  them :  "The  Johnnies 
must  be  pretty  near  as  the  cavalry  is  coming  back?"  In  the  afternoon  Company 
K  deployed  as  skirmishers ;  since  the  death  of  General  Welsh  we  were  no  longer 
provost  guards.  Our  company  moved  forward  and  drove  the  Johnnies,  the  line 
of  battle  following  close  behind  us.  We  continued  to  drive  them  through  the 
woods  until  called  to  a  halt.  Looking  down  through  the  woods,  we  could  see 
them  and  shot  at  them  while  they  were  reforming.  Charging  us  they  came  up 
close  to  where  I  was  standing  behind  a  tree  and  halted.  I  fired  at  them  at  short 
range.  Our  skirmish  line  then  fell  back  a  short  distance  to  let  the  line  of  battle 
advance.  The  twenty-seventh  Michigan  was  in  line  of  battle  ready  to  receive 
the  Johnnies  at  our  old  place  on  the  skirmish  line,  but  the  Johnnies  came  to  a 
halt  and  fell  back.  Company  K  had  no  killed  or  wounded.  The  Battle  of  Blue 
Springs  was  only  a  skirmish  compared  to  some  of  the  fights  we  got  into  later 
on,  of  which  I  intend  to  give  my  personal  experience. 

Company  K  in  the  evening  and  during  that  night  supported  a  section  of  one 
of  our  batteries.  We  could  see  the  lights  of  the  Johnnies  moving  about  through 
the  night.  We  were  much  disappointed  the  next  morning  to  find  they  had  dis 
appeared,  retreating  toward  Virginia.  The  pursuit  was  started  at  once  and 
pushed  hard.  We  followed  them  all  day.  Citizens  told  us  as  we  pushed  along 
the  road  that  the  Johnnies  told  them,  "The  Yankees  are  so  close  behind  and  in 
such  numbers  we  fellows  could  have  stirred  them  with  poles."  We  marched  about 
19  miles  on  this  chase,  going  through  Greenville,  Andrew  Johnson's  home,  and 
continued  as  far  as  Rheatown,  where  we  encamped. 

October  14th  we  took  cars  for  Knoxville.  October  19th  or  20th  we  broke 
camp  and  marched  to  Louden,  about  30  miles  southwest  of  Knoxville,  on  the 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  279 

south  bank  of  the  Tennessee  River.  An  attack  by  the  enemy  threatened  from 
that  quarter.  From  October  22d  to  October  28th  we  encamped  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Little  Tennessee  River.  On  the  morning  of  the  28th  the  regiment 
marched  back  to  Lenoirs  Station,  about  23  miles  southwest  of  Knoxville,  and 
halted  for  the  night.  On  the  following  day  orders  were  received  to  establish  a 
permanent  winter  camp  near  Lenoirs.  Never  was  such  an  order  more  welcome. 
The  place  selected  for  the  regimental  camp  was  a  thrifty  young  oak  grove  near 
the  little  village.  We  built  rude  but  comfortable  log  houses,  roofed  with  tent 
cloth,  all  the  time  thinking  what  good  times  we  would  have  during  the  winter. 
In  this  camp  it  dawned  on  me  that  a  soldier  has  a  conscience,  but  he  is  not  al 
ways  aware  of  it.  I  was  reputed  an  honest  man  at  home  and  in  my  company^ 
but  I  stole  an  axe  while  at  Lenoirs.  It  happened  in  this  way.  George  Fisher, 
nicknamed  "Fannie,"  another  companion  and  myself  took  a  stroll  one  evening 
through  the  camp  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Michigan.  I  saw  an  axe  on  the  company 
woodpile.  Axes  in  our  camp  were  scarce ;  I  picked  this  one  up,  slipped  it  under 
my  overcoat  and  walked  along  without  concern  until  I  delivered  it  on  the  chop 
ping  block  of  Company  K.  I  have  never  forgotten  this  act  and  have  ever  felt 
guilty. 

While  in  camp  here  my  brother,  Samuel,  who  was  a  great  forager,  killed  a 
fine  hog  one  night  and  brought  it  into  camp.  It  was  shared  among  the  boys,  but 
it  was  cooked  and  eaten  without  salt.  Too  much  salt  produces  scurvy,  but  fresh 
hog  meat  without  any  salt  has  nothing  among  laxatives  to  equal  it. 

But  our  plans  for  a  quiet  winter  were  broken  up  by  a  sudden  change  into  an 
active  military  campaign.  On  the  morning  of  November  14th,  orders  were  issued 
to  break  camp  and  bread  rations  were  served.  The  bread  was  carried  around 
the  camp  by  a  number  of  the  boys  on  the  cloth  of  an  old  rotten  shelter  tent.  The 
ground  was  muddy  and  sloppy.  The  weight  of  the  bread  caused  the  cloth  to 
break,  the  bread  falling  into  the  mud  and  water.  It  was  soaked  and  in  bad  con 
dition,  but  it  was  gathered  up  and  distributed.  Being  soggy,  of  course,  it  took 
less  coffee  to  soften  it.  A  hasty  breakfast  followed.  Forming  our  line  we  stacked 
arms  and  awaited  further  orders. 

The  meaning  of  all  this  is  not  so  dark  to  us  now  as  it  was  then.  Lieutenant 
General  Longstreet,  who  was  in  command  of  the  best  corps  in  Bragg's  Army 
at  Chattanooga,  had  received  instructions  November  3d  to  move  his  command 
against  Burnside.  His  instructions  were  to  "drive  General  Burnside  out  of 
Tennessee,"  a  thing  easier  said  than  done.  He  had  about  15,000  men  besides  Gen 
eral  Wheeler's  cavalry,  perhaps  5,000  more.  This  force  of  Longstreet  was  close 
upon  us.  General  Burnside  ascertained  that  Longstreet  had  now  reached  the 
Tennessee  River  at  Hough's  Ferry,  a  few  miles  below  Louden. 

During  the  night  of  the  15th  of  November  we  were  in  the  woods  lying  in 
line  of  battle  ready  to  meet  an  attack.  It  was  unfriendly  weather,  the  heavy  rain 
having  made  the  ground  very  wet  and  cold.  That  night  Joseph  McLane  came 
to  me  and  cried ;  he  was  terribly  nervous  and  afraid  the  Johnnies  would  attack 
us.  I  assured  him  there  was  no  danger.  We  had  pickets  out  in  front  and  if  they 
did  come  we  would  give  them  a  warm  reception.  The  night  passed  without  at 
tack.  The  next  morning  we  left  for  Campbell's  Station.  After  marching  some 
distance  McLane  could  not  keep  up.  I  spoke  to  him  and  advised  him  to  do  so, 


280     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

or  the  Johnnies  would  capture  him  and  told  him  that  some  of  our  boys  were 
even  then  firing  at  them,  not  far  in  our  rear.  But  McLane  helplessly  fell  be 
hind  and  was  captured.  He  died  in  Andersonville  prison. 

Some  of  our  troops  were  sent  ahead  to  hold  Longstreet  in  check.  He  was 
moving  by  another  route,  the  Kingston  road.  The  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts 
and  Eighth  Michigan  were  holding  him  when  we  came  up,  Company  K  deployed 
as  skirmishers.  When  we  got  to  a  rail  fence  we  could  see  the  Johnnies  lying 
low  down  in  a  field  in  a  hollow  only  a  short  distance  from  us.  We  instantly 
opened  fire  on  them;  they  jumped  up  and  fled  like  so  many  sheep.  The  Johnnies 
who  had  been  following  us  were  at  this  time  in  the  woods  on  our  right.  We  were 
that  close  to  them  I  heard  a  Rebel  officer  call  out :  "Forward !  On  there !  Give 
it  to  them!''  The  Second  Michigan  were  holding  that  skirmish  line.  I  said: 
"They  won't  drive  the  Second  Michigan  very  fast."  It  was  considered  one  of 
our  very  best  fighting  regiments.  We  fell  back  to  the  rear  of  Campbells  Sta 
tion,  where  General  Burnside  had  chosen  a  position  for  holding  the  Rebels  in 
check.  Captain  Fessler  and  several  of  us  were  sitting  on  some  rails  watching 
the  Rebel  movements.  I  noticed  a  puff  from  one  of  their  cannon  and  in  a  mo 
ment  I  saw  the  shell  coming  and  called  out:  "There  she  comes!"  It  passed  just 
over  our  heads  sounding  like  a  gigantic  pinwheel. 

General  Burnside  held  Longstreet  in  check  until  evening,  then  we  started 
back  to  Knoxville.  We  marched  all  night  arriving  early  in  the  morning.  The 
left  wing  of  our  regiment  extended  to  Holston  River,  Company  K  being  on  the 
extreme  left.  We  were  employed  building  breastworks  and  doing  picket  duty. 
In  front  of  our  strong  line  of  works  we  had  strung  heavy  wires,  stretched  10, 
or  12  inches  above  the  ground,  wrapped  around  tree  stumps,  thus  connecting 
stump  to  stump.  The  principal  fighting  was  done  at  Fort  Sanders.  Here  we 
suffered  a  great  deal  more  from  shortage  of  rations  than  we  did  from  bullets. 

Longstreet  attacked  Fort  Sanders  on  the  morning  of  the  29th.  The  wire 
entanglements  proved  a  great  aid  in  checking  the  advance  of  the  Rebels.  But 
they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  ditch  in  front  of  our  fort.  The  Confederate  loss 
was  very  heavy  in  front  of  Lieutenant  Benjamin's  battery  of  the  Ninth  Corps; 
he  had  triple  shotted  his  guns.  Lieutenant  Benjamin  actually  took  shells  in  his 
own  hands,  lighted  them  and  tossed  them  over  the  parapet  into  the  crowded 
ditch.  "It  stilled  them  down,"  he  modestly  remarked.  One  of  the  Rebel  brigades 
in  reserve  now  came  up  in  support  yelling,  and  the  slaughter  was  renewed.  The 
ditch  was  filled,  but  several  Rebel  flags  were  bravely  planted  on  the  parapet,  but 
"The  Highlanders,"  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York  Volunteers,  swept  them  off 
with  their  muskets  and  also  those  who  attempted  to  scale  the  parapet.  The  men 
in  the  ditch,  at  last  convinced  of  the  hopelessness  of  the  task  they  had  under 
taken,  surrendered. 

These  prisoners  represented  11  regiments  and  numbered  nearly  300  men. 
Among  them  were  17  commissioned  officers  and  over  200  dead  and  wounded, 
including  three  colonels.  The  body  of  Confederate  General  Humphrey  was  found 
near  the  ditch,  while  the  ground  in  front  of  the  fort  was  strewn  with  the  bodies 
of  the  dead  and  wounded.  Over  100  stands  of  arms  and  three  battle  flags  fell 
into  our  hands. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  281 

Our  total  loss  in  the  engagement  was  eight  men  killed  and  five  wounded. 
In  view  of  this  remarkable  victory,  we  need  not  wonder  why  the  song  was  writ 
ten  in  honor  of  it: 

"The  Yankee  fire  and  Burnside  wire  caused  them  to  stumble 
Head  over  heels  into  the  ditch,  like  bullfrogs,  they  did  tumble." 

I  recall  a  little  incident  that  occurred  while  on  picket  duty  in  the  woods  near 
Holston  River.  On  our  way  out  to  the  post  I  noticed  a  small  shoulder  of  an  un- 
pickled  hog.  I  picked  it  up  and  smelt  it.  I  dropped  it  again.  Brother  Sam 
coming  behind,  grabbed  the  shoulder,  cooked  and  ate  some  of  it.  We  were  very 
nearly  starved.  Parched  corn  was  our  principal  ration  and  that  was  scarce.  We 
often  picked  up  scattered  grains  under  the  mule  troughs.  For  several  days  we 
received  only  a  small  piece  of  bread  baked  of  bran,  which  we  could  not  eat  with 
out  first  frying  it  in  our  skillets. 

On  the  night  of  December  4th  General  Longstreet  withdrew  his  lines  around 
Knoxville,  crossed  the  Holston  and  moved  up  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  toward 
Morristown,  Tenn.  His  retreat  was  discovered  by  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachu 
setts  Regiment  of  our  brigade.  On  or  about  the  7th  of  December  we  followed 
after  Longstreet,  but  were  so  very  weak  that  we  could  hardly  get  along.  We 
went  slowly.  We  continued  our  march  on  the  8th  and  9th,  reaching  Rutledge. 
On  December  15th  we  fell  back  to  Blaines  Cross  Roads.  We  remained  there 
until  January  16th,  1864,  when  we  reenlisted  as  veterans.  Our  rations  were  again 
very  short.  Corn  chop  was  considered  a  rare  luxury  at  25  cents  a  quart.  Being 
mid-winter  we  suffered  severely  from  cold,  as  we  had  nothing  but  shelter  or  dog 
tents.  In  order  to  keep  warm  we  built  large  log  fires,  there  being  plenty  of 
wood.  One  of  the  boys  found  an  old  Dutch  oven  near  camp;  we  cleaned  it  up 
the  best  we  could,  then  mixed  up  a  batch  of  corn  chop  and  baked  it  in  the  oven. 
I  tell  you  it  tasted  good.  Hunger  does  a  great  deal. 

We  were  all  happy  when  we  got  orders  to  leave  for  our  homes,  January 
16th,  on  30  days'  furlough.  I  remember  how  I  loaded  myself  down  with  corn 
chop  (on  the  outside),  which  was  about  the  only  rations  we  could  get.  The  roads 
were  muddy,  which  made  marching  in  our  weakened  condition  very  exhausting. 
It  had  been  a  season  of  much  rain. 

One  night  we  encamped  in  some  timber.  There  were  three  of  us  together. 
One  was  "Fannie"  Fisher  and  the  other  I  think  was  Jacob  Kling.  We  made  our 
bed  about  as  comfortable  as  we  could  on  our  gum  blankets  and  crawled  under 
our  woolen  blankets,  always  covering  head  and  feet.  Whenever  we  got  tired 
lying  one  way,  which  was  spoon  fashion,  the  command  was  "about  face."  This 
same  night  it  snowed  about  an  inch  but  we  were  so  hardened  that  we  did  not 
mind  it. 

I  suppose  it  took,  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember,  10  or  12  days  to  reach  Crab 
Orchard,  Ky.,  which  was  about  150  miles  from  Blaines  Cross  Roads.  We  next 
marched  to  Nicholasville.  There  we  took  cars  for  Covington,  Ky.  We  crossed 
the  Ohio  River  to  Cincinnati.  There  we  received  and  read  our  mail.  I  received 
at  least  three  or  four  letters  which  rejoiced  and  wonderfully  revived  me.  The 
last  lot  of  letters  from  home  had  brought  me  the  distressing  information,  that 
by  the  time  I  received  the  letter  my  wife  would  be  no  more;  that  she  was  dan 
gerously  ill  with  typhoid  fever  and  Dr.  Rohrer  had  despaired  of  her  life.  It  was 


282     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

under  strain  of  the  thoughts  this  news  had  produced  that  I  made  the  long  journey. 
Soldiers  can  only  know  what  such  feelings  mean  and  will  fully  realize  the  depth 
of  my  joy  when  the  next  letter  read:  "Your  wife  is  well  again." 

We  remained  at  Cincinnati  for  several  days.  Then  we  took  cars  for  Har- 
risburg.  We  were  all  a  happy  set  of  boys.  We  remained  at  Harrisburg  for  sev 
eral  days  as  we  had  to  make  out  our  reenlistment  papers.  This  delay  was  a 
great  trial  to  me.  Being  rather  handy  with  my  pen  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  help  Cap 
tain  Fessler  make  out  our  papers.  After  the  papers  were  made  out  we  started 
by  railroad  for  Columbia. 

We  were  met  by  an  immense  crowd  of  people,  anxious  to  see  the  boys  of 
Company  K  and  Company  B,  which  was  also  recruited  in  Columbia.  I  certainly 
felt  happy,  all  of  us  did,  to  be  "at  home"  after  an  absence  for  some  of  us,  of  two 
years  and  more.  Those  of  us  who  originally  belonged  to  the  "Orange  Recruits" 
had  been  just  two  years  away. 

Andrew  Hostetter  of  Donegal  Township,  a  brave  soldier,  was  met  at  the 
station  by  his  brother  who  drove  us  out  to  our  homes  in  the  country.  I  lived  at 
Newtown.  Knowing  that  I  would  be  at  home  that  evening  the  house  was  filled 
with  people. 

Although  our  furlough  was  only  for  30  days  we  had  a  good  time  while  it 
lasted.  The  ladies  of  Columbia  gave  Companies  K  and  B  a  grand  reception  and 
dinner,  which  was  very  much  enjoyed  by  them.  A  great  many  of  the  boys  who 
attended  that  dinner  never  lived  to  come  back  from  the  war.  Many  of  our  brave 
fellows  fell  in  the  battles  of  the  campaign  of  1864. 

Our  veteran  furlough  of  30  days  expired  on  or  about  March  15th,  1864. 
Company  K  received  quite  a  number  of  recruits.  If  I  am  not  in  error  the  regi 
ment  was  recruited  to  the  full  quota  of  1,000  men.  Some  of  the  recruits  were 
quite  young,  17  to  18  years  old,  and  proved  to  be  very  good  soldiers.  When  we 
left  Columbia  for  Harrisburg  there  was  a  large  crowd  of  people  to  see  us  off, 
and  many  tears  were  shed  by  our  wives,  sisters  and  parents.  But  we  boys  only 
laughed  in  return  for  these;  military  service  had  hardened  us  in  some  things. 
Knowing  full  well  that  the  campaign  of  1864  was  to  be  a  hard  fought  one,  that 
General  Grant  and  General  Lee  were  to  lock  horns  with  each  other,  we  were 
eager  to  get  back.  We  all  know  that  General  Lee  was  hard  to  defeat  on  his  own 
grounds,  and  the  boys  had  great  confidence  in  General  Grant.  Grant  was  called 
the  "Bull  Dog  Fighter,"  but  let  me  say,  it  was  in  my  opinion,  our  superior  num 
bers  that  defeated  Lee.  As  we  had  to  be  the  attacking  party,  Grant's  strong 
point  as  a  general  was  he  made  every  man  fight.  He  did  not  take  one  division 
or  one  corps  into  battle  and  hold  the  balance  in  reserve  (which  was  done  by 
many  of  our  generals  in  the  early  part  of  the  war)  ;  he  made  every  man  in  the 
army  fight,  even  cowards.  We  left  Harrisburg  the  latter  part  of  March  for  An 
napolis,  Md.,  where  the  Ninth  Corps  was  reorganized.  Our  camp  at  Annapolis 
was  fine.  Our  quarters  were  excellent.  Our  principal  duty  was  company  and 
regimental  drill. 

On  April  13th  the  entire  corps  then  in  camp  was  reviewed  by  Generals 
Grant  and  Burnside.  The  day  was  delightful  and  as  the  generals  rode  in  front 
of  the  long  imposing  lines  they  were  greeted  by  cheers,  strains  of  martial  music 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  283 

and  the  waving  of  tattered  and  blood  stained  banners.     The  enthusiasm  of  the 
men  was  unbounded.    This  was  the  first  time  that  I  saw  General  Grant. 

The  destination  of  our  corps  was  still  a  mystery.  On  the  evening  of  April 
22d  the  command  was  ordered  to  be  in  readiness  to  march,  and  before  daylight 
of  the  23d  the  happy  camp  was  broken  up.  The  corps  took  up  its  line  of  march, 
not  toward  the  Harbor  of  Annapolis,  but  in  the  direction  of  Washington.  The 
day  was  very  warm  and  before  evening  many  overcoats  were  left  behind  along 
the  road.  We  arrived  at  the  outskirts  of  Washington  about  noon  and  halted  on 
New  York  Avenue  for  the  command  to  close  up,  as  we  were  to  give  a  marching 
salute  to  the  President  and  General  Burnside,  who  were  to  review  us  from  a 
balcony  of  Willard's  Hotel.  The  streets  along  our  line  of  march  were  densely 
packed  with  people.  After  the  President  had  reviewed  us  we  passed  over  Long 
Bridge  into  Virginia.  Many  a  brave  man  felt  that  he  was  crossing  Long  Bridge 
never  to  return.  Grim  resolve  and  cheerful  devotion  were  the  lessons  of  the 
hour. 

On  Wednesday,  April  27th,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  brigade  left  Alex 
andria  to  follow  the  divisions  which  had  been  advanced  toward  the  Rappahan- 
nock.  After  a  fatiguing  march  of  16  miles  we  encamped  that  night  three  miles 
beyond  Fairfax  Court  House.  The  next  day  we  went  into  camp  at  Bristow  Sta 
tion,  passing  over  the  historic  ground  of  1861 — The  Battlefield  of  Bull  Run. 

On  the  morning  of  May  4th  all  doubts  as  to  our  destination  were  removed; 
we  were  bound  for  the  Wilderness.  At  daylight  of  the  5th  the  command  was  in 
motion,  and  at  about  nine  o'clock  we  crossed  the  Rappahannock  on  a  pontoon 
bridge. 

The  speed  of  our  march  did  not  abate  until  the  Rapidan,  at  Germania  Ford 
was  reached.  We  passed  over  the  river  on  a  pontoon.  The  regiment  was  now 
south  of  the  Rapidan  and  upon  halting  we  had  an  opportunity  to  look  about. 
We  learned  that  the  entire  army  had  crossed  the  day  before ;  the  Fifth  and  Sixth 
Corps  at  Germania  Ford ;  the  Second  Corps  and  the  supply  train,  of.  more  than 
4,000  wagons  at  Ely's  Ford,  six  miles  below. 

We  encamped  that  night  in  some  timber,  not  far  from  the  front.  Between 
one  and  two  o'clock  we  were  aroused  and  before  three  o'clock  moved  toward 
the  front.  I  remember  counting  the  guns  that  morning  before  we  started ;  there 
were  81.  As  we  were  moving  toward  the  enemy  at  Wilderness  Tavern  we 
passed  a  field  hospital  where  lay  many  wounded  of  our  brave  boys  of  the  Sixttf 
Corps,  who  were  engaged  in  a  fearful  battle  on  the  5th.  Some  of  the  men  stand 
ing  around  said  to  us :  "The  Sixth  Corps  was  cut  all  to  pieces."  Of  course, 
we  paid  very  little  attention  to  that  remark,  as  we  thought  perhaps  they  were 
cowards  looking  on  the  dark  side  of  the  battle.  We  moved  forward  to  a  brick 
house,  the  one  to  which  General  Jackson  was  taken  after  he  was  wounded  at 
Chancellorsville;  we  halted  a  short  distance  from  the  house.  After  loading  guns 
we  moved  to  our  right  a  short  distance  on  a  narrow  road  leading  through  the 
pines.  Here  we  stood  facing  south  in  the  direction  we  expected  to  find  the 
Johnnies. 

Before  we  deployed  as  skirmishers  we  piled  our  knapsacks,  our  best  clean 
clothing  being  in  them.  I  detailed  George  Seiple  and  Augustus  Weigand  to 
guard  them,  little  thinking  when  we  left  them  it  would  be  the  last  time  that  we 


284     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

would  ever  see  our  knapsacks.  Company  K  being  a  skirmish  company  we  de 
ployed,  moving  cautiously  through  pines  and  underbrush.  We  had  not  gone  very 
far  when  we  saw  one  of  our  boys  in  blue  lying  up  against  a  pine  tree  dead.  I 
suppose  he  had  been  killed  in  the  fight  of  the  previous  day.  We  did  not  take 
time  to  examine  his  marks  for  what  company  or  regiment  he  belonged.  We 
kept  moving  steadily  and  cautiously  forward.  Looking  to  our  right  we  saw  Gen 
eral  Burnside  and  his  staff  ride  into  a  small  field.  When  he  reached  about  the 
middle  of  the  field  the  Johnnies  opened  a  battery  on  him.  He  wheeled  about  and 
in  double  quick  time  got  out  of  there.  I  thought  when  I  first  saw  him  that  he 
was  watching  our  line  advance.  We  continued  to  go  forward  until  we  reached 
a  small  run  called  Wilderness  Run ;  the  boys  tried  to  ford  it  the  best  they  could 
without  getting  wet.  When  we  had  crossed  the  run  we  moved  to  the  left  a  short 
distance  and  halted  a  little  while.  Sergeant  Reuben  E.  Fillis  and  Private  Thomas 
Kelley  of  our  boys  were  wounded  here.  Our  skirmish  line  moved  again  toward 
the  left  a  short  distance  and  then  forward.  We  had  gone  but  a  very  short  dis 
tance  when  we  came  upon  a  squad  of  Boys  in  Blue;  if  I  mistake  not,  they  had 
no  guns.  We  did  not  take  time  to  ask  them  where  they  belonged  or  why  they 
were  there  but  kept  moving  forward.  We  went  but  a  short  distance  when  we 
found  Johnnies  in  the  woods.  We  halted  and  got  behind  some  of  the  large  oak 
trees.  The  company  moved  to  the  left  a  short  distance  and  then  forward,  but 
three  of  us  remained  at  our  first  position  behind  the  oak  trees  and  continued  to 
fire.  The  Johnnies  were  not  slow  to  return  our  fire.  They  seemed  to  be  mov 
ing  from  tree  to  tree  toward  us.  I  remember  that  one  of  their  bullets  came  very 
close  to  my  head. 

The  line  of  battle  which  had  followed  close  behind  the  skirmishers  now 
passed  us.  I  said  to  them  as  they  went  forward,  "Boys,  the  Rebels  are  right  in 
front  of  us."  After  the  line  of  battle  had  passed  I  said  to  my  two  companions, 
"Boys,  come  on,  we  must  hunt  up  our  company."  They  had  formed  a  close  at 
tachment  for  the  trees  and  hesitated,  being  reluctant  to  leave  them  but  finally  we 
started.  We  went  about  100  yards  to  our  left  and  forward  toward  a  point  on  the 
battle  line  where  we  supposed  the  Forty-fifth  was  engaged.  At  that  particular 
time  a  hot  fight  was  going  on  along  our  whole  line.  As  we  approached  the  posi 
tion  of  the  Fifth  Corps  (which  was  on  the  right  of  the  Ninth),  the  musketry, 
firing  was  so  intensely  fierce  that  I  said  to  my  two  comrades,  "My,  oh  my!  I 
don't  see  how  in  such  fighting  anyone  can  be  saved." 

As  we  went  forward  we  met  David  Edler,  one  of  Company  K,,  limping^ 
back ;  he  wanted  me  to  help  him  to  the  rear.  I  replied,  "No,  you  will  have  to  get 
back  yourself ;  we  are  needed  at  the  front."  Just  then  we  were  overtaken  by 
brave  Colonel  Griffin,  who  was  going  toward  the  firing.  He  saw  us  and  sternly 
commanded  me  in  these  words,  "Sergeant,  get  forward  there  or  I'll  take  those 
stripes  from  you."  I  answered,  "Colonel,  we  have  been  cut  off  and  are  going 
forward  to  find  our  company."  He  went  on.  I  can  record  in  this  place  that 
Colonel  Griffin  when  he  threatened  thus  did  not  know  that  he  was  addressing 
one  of  the  sergeants  of  that  gallant  old  Forty-fifth  Veteran  Volunteer  Regiment 
of  Pennsylvania,  whose  fighters  were  at  that  moment  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the 
most  heroic  engagements  of  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness.  As  we  came  close  to 
the  rear  of  our  firing  line  I  heard  my  brother,  Samuel,  call  to  me  in  a  glad  tone 
(he  had  thought  I  was  killed  or  a  prisoner  when  he  missed  me  from  the  com- 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  285 

pany),  "Eph,  get  in  behind  one  of  these  trees;  the  Johnnies  are  as  thick  out 
there  as  flies."  I  took  his  advice  and  stood  near  him.  While  in  this  position  I 
noticed  close  by  me  one  of  Company  A's  boys  on  his  haunches  behind  a  tree 
firing.  I  was  looking  at  him  as  he  was  reloading ;  I  saw  him  fall,  shot  through  the 
head. 

The  order  ''Forward"  rang  along  the  line.  The  whole  line  sprang  toward 
the  enemy's  line  of  works,  capturing  them  and  a  number  of  prisoners.  In  this 
charge  I  saw  Captain  Campbell,  an  officer  of  Company  E,  fall  mortally  wounded. 
When  it  was  found  that  our  post  on  the  line  was  too  far  in  advance,  we  were 
immediately  ordered  back  to  our  first  position.  I  shall  never  forget  the  splendid 
bravery  of  Captain  Campbell.  As  he  fell  with  a  mortal  wound  on  his  body  he 
beckoned  us  to  come  on.  We  could  not  hear  what  his  orders  were,  but  his  actions 
spoke  louder  than  words. 

When  we  regained  our  old  position  the  firing  practically  ceased.  While 
standing  behind  the  line  a  minie  ball  passed  so  close  to  my  ear  that  my  head 
dodged  violently  wrenching  the  muscles  of  my  neck  painfully.  I  grabbed  the 
sides  of  my  head  with  my  hands.  General  Curtin,  who  was  near  me  inquired, 
"Sergeant,  are  you  hurt?"  "No,  but  I  was  terribly  scared  just  then,"  I  jokingly 
replied.  The  6th  of  May,  1864,  during  this  fight  had  been  extremely  hot ;  the  boys 
all  suffered  from  heat  and  the  want  of  water ;  there  was  no  water  in  those  woods. 
Many  of  the  boys  fell  out  of  ranks,  remaining  a  short  distance  in  the  rear,  in  a 
state  of  either  total  or  great  exhaustion. 

Captain  Fessler,  a  dear  and  brave  officer,  who  at  this  writing  is  no  more, 
dispatched  me  to  go  back  and  bring  forward  all  of  the  boys  of  Company  K,  as 
a  general  attack  was  to  be  made  again  at  six  o'clock.  When  I  got  back  to  the 
line  again  I  took  position  behind  a  big  tree.  (The  Eighth  Michigan  in  the  fight 
had  gotten  mixed  up  with  our  regiment  in  the  woods.)  While  there  I  saw  one 
of  the  Michigan  men  suddenly  interlock  his  arms  across  his  breast  and  heard  him 
cry  out  pitifully,  "Oh,  Company  D !  Oh,  Company  D !  Help  me !"  He  was 
taken  to  the  rear,  supported  by  his  companions.  I  also  saw  in  his  direction  my 
brother,  Samuel,  and  Billie  Benson  a  few  steps  away,  behind  the  same  tree,  firing 
as  we  all  were,  industriously.  A  minie  ball  from  the  Rebels  struck  the  side  of 
their  tree  and  glancing  off  hit  Billie  in  the  shoulder.  He  fell  backward  kicking 
up  his  heels  comically.  It  was  serious  business  but  I  actually  laughed.  He,  too, 
wanted  help  to  the  rear  but  I  told  him,  "No,  Billie,  it's  too  dangerous,  jump  up 
and  run,"  which  he  did  with  great  spirit.  The  firing  was  sustained  continually 
with  varying  intensity. 

Colonel  Griffin  went  out  to  reconnoiter  during  one  of  the  lulls  in  the  battle. 
As  he  passed  me  I  said  to  him,  "Don't  go  out,  colonel,  the  Rebels  are  thick  out 
there."  He  paid  no  attention  but  he  was  not  out  very  far  nor  very  long  until  he 
wheeled  as  if  an  idea  had  struck  him  and  he  came  back  on  a  run.  As  he  again 
passed  me  my  thought  was  to  say  to  him,  "Don't  run,  colonel,  or  I  will  take  that 
eagle  off  your  shoulder."  Griffin  had  good  judgment.  He  knew  just  when  it  was 
proper  to  use  a  fine  pair  of  legs. 

Simon  Sanders  of  the  Black  Snake  episode  and  Peter  Brady  were  among  the 
killed.  The  wounded  were  numerous,  as  the  list  will  show.  About  sun  down 
the  fight  was  over  and  we  at  once  began  to  erect  temporary  breastworks;  there 


286     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

was  no  time  for  anything  of  this  kind  during  the  day.  The  company  cook  brought 
us  coffee.  After  haversack  rations  we  settled  down  to  a  watchful  rest,  for  no 
body  was  allowed  to  go  to  sleep  that  night.  During  the  whole  night  we  heard 
moaning  on  our  front.  The  next  morning  some  of  the  company  went  out  and 
found  behind  a  log  Private  George  W.  Gilbert  of  Company  K.  They  brought 
him  into  the  lines.  As  they  carried  him  mortally  wounded  past  me  I  said  to  him, 
"George,  keep  up  good  courage,  you  will  be  all  right."  But  he  replied,  "No,  I  am 
going  to  die."  He  also  told  the  boys  who  brought  him  in  that  he  had  gone  too 
far  out  in  advance  of  the  line,  and  that  he  had  been  hit  by  a  stray  shot  from  our 
own  guns.  He  told  us  also  that  there  had  been  Rebels  with  him  out  there  all 
night  but  that  they  had  left  in  the  morning.  George  W.  Gilbert  of  East  Prospect, 
York  County,  died  about  nine  o'clock  that  same  forenoon.  A  brave  soldier  was  he. 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th  we  advanced  to  the  line  from  which  the  Rebels 
had  retreated.  Behind  their  defenses  Company  K  was  lucky  in  finding  one  of  its 
skillets  which  had  been  captured  from  Seiple  and  Weigand  the  day  before.  George 
W.  Derrick  was  in  charge  of  the  pioneer  corps  whose  duty  it  was  to  find  and 
gather  the  dead.  He  dug  a  long  ditch  in  the  woods  about  three  feet  deep  and 
wide  as  the  length  of  a  man.  After  wrapping  our  dead  in  blankets,  they  werfe 
tenderly  laid  side  by  side  without  any  ceremony  (our  chaplain  at  that  time  was 
with  the  field  hospital),  and  then  they  were  covered  over.  Every  one  of  the 
graves  was  marked  with  a  cracker  box  lid  for  a  head  board,  on  which  was  pen 
ciled  the  name,  company  and  regiment.  Killed,  Privates  Simon  Sander  and  Peter 
Brady.  Mortally  wounded :  Hilston  Carrs,  Andrew  Hostetter  and  George  W.  Gil 
bert.  Wounded:  Sergeant  Reuben  E.  Fillis,  Privates  William  Benson,  Thomas 
Kelly,  Charles  A.  Deckman,  Reuben  Weaver,  George  W.  Findley,  David  S.  Edler, 
W.  A.  Roberts,  Henry  Fitzkee,  Calvin  Harris,  George  F.  Seiple,  Samuel  Sump- 
man,  Samuel  B.  Weaver.  Missing:  Augustus  Weigand. 

May  8th  toward  noon  it  became  evident  that  a  new  movement  was  contem 
plated  ;  we  began  to  fall  back  without  any  apparent  reason ;  we  were  not  pushed 
by  the  enemy.  About  one  o'clock  we  marched  to  the  rear  and  halted  near  a  road 
while  the  rest  of  the  brigade  was  withdrawing  and  concentrating.  We  then 
moved  rapidly  to  open  ground  near  the  old  Wilderness  Tavern,  where  the  Ninth 
Corps  was  already  massed.  Our  immense  artillery  and  ammunition  trains  were 
then  moving  past  our  rear  in  the  direction  of  Chancellorsville.  We  remained  at 
the  tavern  until  dark.  As  soon  as  the  trains  were  on  the  road  we  were  ordered 
to  follow  them. 

The  march  that  night  up  to  ten  o'clock  was  very  tiresome.  We  would  move 
a  short  distance,  then  halt ;  march  and  halt  again.  We  finally  lay  down  by  the 
roadside  for  the  night.  At  daylight  we  resumed  the  march.  At  nine  o'clock  we 
reached  Chancellorsville  and  halted  in  an  open  field  at  the  intersection  of  the 
Gordonville  Plank  and  Orange  County  roads.  Here  stood  the  ruins  of  the  house 
used  by  General  Hooker  as  headquarters  during  the  great  battle  fought  one  year 
before.  All  around  us  were  traces  of  the  bloody  struggle.  We  remained  quietly 
at  Chancellorsville  during  the  entire  day.  The  Fifth  and  Second  Corps  had  moved 
on  the  Brock  road  toward  Spottsylvania.  The  Sixth  Corps  was  with  us. 

May  10th  was  clear  and  intensely  hot.  The  burning  sun  drove  us  from  the 
open  fields  to  shelter  of  the  woods.  We  lay  there  during  long  and  tedious  hours 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  287 

listening  to  the  sounds  of  battle  on  onr  right  and  under  orders,  "Be  ready  to  move 
at  a  moment's  notice." 

On  the  llth  we  moved  to  right  from  our  advanced  line  facing  Spottsylvania. 
Court  House,  into  an  open  field  near  the  Harris  House.  Here  we  remained  un 
der  fire  for  more  than  an  hour,  exposed  to  the  full  fury  of  a  drenching  rain,  which 
caused  the  men  to  shiver  with  cold.  Rubber  coats  and  blankets  proved  no  pro 
tection.  The  whole  army  was  soaked  to  the  skin.  Late  that  afternoon  we  moved 
back  to  our  original  position  in  front  of  the  court  house,  probably  a  half  mile 
or  more  away.  I  shall  never  forget  that  night.  As  we  had  no  place  to  lie  down 
but  on  the  wet  ground,  we  got  very  little  sleep. 

Early  next  morning  we  formed  into  line  of  battle  and  moved  forward  a  lit 
tle  to  the  right  of  a  road  running  toward  the  court  house.  We  did  not  move 
very  far  when  we  came  in  contact  with  Rebel  pickets.  They  were  driven  in.  We 
advanced  through  an  open  field  a  short  distance,  when  we  reached  a  woods.  We 
pushed  forward  through  the  brush,  driving  the  Johnnies  before  us.  While  mak 
ing  this  movement,  I  remarked  to  the  boys  upon  the  character  of  the  firing  on  our 
right.  I  said,  "I  don't  believe  those  fellows  are  putting  in  all  their  powder."  The 
reports  sounded  like  firing  with  half  charges.  But  I  found  out  the  next  day  when 
we  got  on  that  part  of  the  line  that  there  had  been  no  half  charges  there.  The 
field  was  strewn  with  dead  and  wounded  Johnnies  and  some  horses.  One  Reb 
who  was  brought  in  from  that  field  make  the  remark  in  my  hearing,  "You  Yanks 
were  not  satisfied  with  shooting  me  once ;  you  shot  me  two  times  while  I  was  lying 
out  there."  This  was  a  saucy  fellow.  Shot  up  as  he  was,  he  was  a  radical  of 
radicals.  That  singular  sound  in  the  firing  was  produced  by  a  blanket-like  con 
dition  of  the  atmosphere  which  enveloped  the  battle. 

Halting  our  line  we  kept  up  a  continuous  fire.  A  short  distance  in  front  we 
saw  a  line  of  Johnnies  moving  to  our  left.  They  could  not  see  us  in  our  position 
and  were  marching  as  though  they  had  no  thought  that  they  were  near  our  line. 
When  we  had  watched  them  a  while  I  said  to  Captain  Fessler,  "Let  us  fire  on 
that  column,"  but  the  captain  felt  sure  they  were  a  part  of  Hancock's  captives 
and  said,  "No,  don't  fire."  We  could  have  mowed  them  down.  Had  we  done  so 
the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  would  not  have  been  outflanked  or  taken  by  sur 
prise  as  they  were,  and  the  lives  of  many  of  brave  Major  Buffum's  men  sacri 
ficed.  This  column  of  Rebels  was  playing  a  daring  trick  on  our  officers.  When 
they  came  close  to  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  they  acted  as  though  they  were 
actually  going  to  surrender,  but  when  about  ten  yards  off  opened  a  murderous 
fire.  As  onr  company  adjoined  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  on  their  right,  we 
observed  them  falling  back  and  cried  to  them,  "Don't  run !"  I  know  not  whether 
they  heard  us,  but  as  they  made  a  most  gallant  rally  we  believed  at  the  time  that 
it  was  our  encouragement  that  helped  them  to  do  it. 

During  this  time  our  regiment  kept  up  a  continuous  fire  on  the  Johnnies  in 
our  front.  Our  loss  was  slight  as  we  were  lying  down  concealed  by  the  under 
brush.  We  had  one  killed  and  three  wounded.  Killed :  John  Heffner ;  mortally 
wounded :  Corporal  Dennis  Digman ;  wounded :  George  McG'ill  and  John  Eisher. 

Our  line  charged  and  drove  the  Rebels  back.  When  halted  we  threw  up 
temporary  breastworks,  behind  which  we  remained  under  arms  six  days  and 
nights,  with  strict  orders  not  to  remove  so  much  as  a  cartridge  box.  We  were 


288     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

held  there  from  May  12th  to  May  18th,  entirely  without  shelter  even  as  to  tents 
and  allowed  to  cook  nothing  on  the  lines.  The  cooks  brought  us  our  coffee  from 
the  rear ;  it  was  a  dangerous  place  for  them  and  a  good  many  of  them  lost  their 
lives  on  this  line. 

On  May  14th,  wrhile  looking  out  over  our  breastworks  I  noticed  a  Rebel  not 
very  far  away.  I  said  to  the  boys,  "Look  out  there.  Do  you  see  that  Johnnie?" 
I  hardly  had  the  words  out  when  a  minie  ball  passed  over  us.  To  several  of 
the  boys  I  proposed;  "Let  us  go  in  front  and  play  sharp  shooters."  John  Beaver, 
Brother  Samuel  and  myself  made  up  the  squad.  Crawling  out  beyond  our  pick 
ets  we  got  behind  trees  and  commenced  plugging  at  the  Johnnies.  We  had  not 
been  firing  very  long  before  a  bullet  hit  "Knotty"  (Brother  Sam)  in  the  arm.  I 
helped  him  to  the  rear  as  far  as  I  was  allowed  to  go.  (There  was  a  line  in  the 
rear  beyond  which  you  could  not  help  a  comrade.)  We  did  no  more  sharp  shoot 
ing  that  day,  but  got  back  behind  our  works.  We  had  no  orders  to  go  out  there ; 
it  was  just  a  prank.  We  wanted  extra  excitement.  Samuel  was  sent  to  the  hos 
pital. 

On  the  12th  I  saw  First  Lieutenant  Daniels  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachu 
setts  killed.  His  head  was  pierced  by  a  sharp  shooter's  minie  ball.  He  had 
charge  of  the  skirmish  line  and  had  been  firing  at  the  Johnnies  a  long  time. 

On  the  evening  of  the  18th  we  moved  to  the  rear.  Our  next  left  flank  move 
ment  was  toward  the  North  Anna  and  the  Pamunkey  Rivers.  On  or  about  May 
23d  we  crossed  over  the  North  Anna  and  drove  the  Rebels  a  short  distance.  We 
erected  some  breastworks  in  the  woods  and  I  remember  that  it  was  a  very  dan 
gerous  position.  There  was  a  terrible  storm  coming  up.  Thunder,  lightning  and 
the  roar  of  cannon  made  it  an  awesome  place  during  all  that  afternoon  and  even 
ing.  An  appalled  or  affrighted  feeling  seemed  to  exist  among  the  men  so  that 
none  of  them  wanted  to  go  on  picket  duty  at  this  place.  I  have  never  learned 
why  this  was  but  certain  it  is  there  was  a  singular  manifestation  of  superstition 
among  the  men.  In  all  my  relation  with  campaigns  I  never  saw  anything  just 
like  it  before  or  since. 

The- next  morning  we  recrossed  the  North  Anna  River.  While  resting  on 
the  opposite  side  after  crossing,  Generals  Grant  and  Meade,  with  their  staffs, 
passed  near  us.  It  was  the  first  time  I  saw  Grant  or  Meade  on  that  campaign. 
The  army  commenced  to  move  once  more  to  the  left.  When  the  boys  found  out 
that  another  movement  was  to  be  made,  they  began  to  cheer  and  were  in  high 
spirits.  "Another  flank  movement,"  they  called  to  each  other.  Let  me  say  here 
that  a  forward  movement  was  what  the  boys  wanted.  They  never  wanted  to  turn 
back.  The  boys  were  just  like  Grant;  they  felt  like  fighting  it  out.  There  was 
very  little  fighting  until  we  arrived  at  Bethesda  Church. 

On  June  2d,  1864,  four  or  five  of  our  boys,  Joseph  Lease,  John  Beaver,  Peter 
Gardner  and  Simon  Hogentogler,  as  a  squad  of  foragers  hunting  hams,  found  a 
lot  of  buried  gold  and  silver,  principally  Spanish  coin,  buried  in  the  cellar  of  a 
small  country  house.  Noticing  fresh  ground  on  the  cellar  floor,  they  suspected 
concealed  treasure  and  dug  for  it.  Sure  enough,  they  uncovered  after  digging,  a 
strong  box  filled  with  shot  bags  of  coin.  The  party  secured  a  good  portion  of 
the  money  before  the  rear  guard  drove  them  forward  to  their  command.  Joseph 
Lease  stated  to  me  a  few  years  ago  that  they  did  not  have  time  to  get  all  the 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  289 

money,  and  it  was  his  belief  that  the  rear  guard  under  Captain  Roath  of  Marietta, 
got  the  balance. 

The  amount  was  thought  to  be  about  $3,000;  whatever  it  was,  I  shall  never 
forget  the  excitement  created  when  the  fact  became  known  along  the  line  of  our 
breastworks. 

I  helped  the  boys  to  exchange  some  of  the  silver  for  greenbacks,  at  rate  of 
one  dollar  in  silver  for  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  in  greenbacks.  I  was 
kept  pretty  busy  as  a  money  exchanger  for  a  long  time. 

It  then  fell  to  my  lot  to  divide  and  distribute  the  balance  of  the  money  after 
the  men  tired  of  exchanging  silver  for  greenbacks.  I  remember  very  well  that 
we  had  52  enlisted  men  and  only  one  officer,  Captain  A.  J.  Fessler.  I  gave  each 
man  four  dollars,  and  when  I  got  around  there  was  still  some  left.  I  started  on 
the  second  round  and  gave  each  man  two  dollars.  After  I  had  finished  the  divid 
ing  up,  John  Beaver  said  to  me,  "Here,  Myers,  take  this  for  yourself,"  and  pre 
sented  me  with  a  handful  of  silver. 

While  on  picket  at  this  place  I  had  a  bad  scare,  the  worst  of  my  army  life. 
It  was  a  shock  so  sudden  that  for  the  moment  I  was  much  rattled.  Unawares 
to  the  picket,  a  pair  of  howitzers  had  been  dragged  noiselessly  into  position  be 
hind  the  picket  line  and  opened  fire.  The  terrific  boom,  the  rush  of  air,  the  con 
cussion,  the  feeling  that  my  cap  and  head  had  blown  off,  was  a  queer  one. 

Orders  now  came  to  move  by  left  flank.  At  1  P.  M.  we  moved  about  two 
miles — a  soldier  can  only  guess  at  distance.  As  soon  as  the  Rebels  discovered 
that  we  had  vacated  our  works,  they  followed  up  closely,  watching  us  like  hawks. 
I  recall  my  admiration  of  the  Fourteenth  Brooklyn  Zouaves  skirmishing  ahead 
of  us.  Their  brilliant  uniforms  made  me  think,  "You  are  surely  bright  targets." 
And  it  was  so,  for  they  soon  came  back  at  a  pretty  lively  gait. 

We  were  in  line  of  battle  ready  for  the  Rebels,  but  they  came  to  a  halt  in 
their  pursuit  of  the  Zouaves.  General  Burnside  now  rode  between  us  and  the 
Zouaves ;  it  was  here  he  uttered  the  words,  "Well,  they  didn't  quite  catch  me." 

While  here  in  line  of  battle  a  spent  cannon  ball  from  a  battery  came  running 
along  the  ground  toward  us.  It  was  a  graceful  thing,  the  unconcerned  way  our 
boys  side-stepped  right  and  left  to  let  it  pass  through  and  without  a  word  close 
up  the  line  again.  A  little  later  a  battery  firing  at  us  obliquely  sent  a  rifled  shot 
which  struck  the  ground  about  20  yards  in  front,  and  then  ricochetted  beauti 
fully  ;  we  watched  it  skim  and  sail  off  along  the  line  for  a  half  mile  or  more. 

We  were  overtaken  during  the  afternoon  by  a  heavy  rain.  The  ground  we 
occupied  was  near  Bethesda  Church  on  the  historic  field  known  as  ol'd  Cold 
Harbor,  and  which  several  years  before  had  been  a  part  of  McClellan's  famous 
"Seven  Days."  We  were  occupying  generally  a  part  of  his  old  works.  Toward 
evening  we  were  moved  a  short  distance  to  right  and  rear  of  our  day  line.  The 
ground  of  our  new  position  was  water  soaked ;  we  spent  a  miserable  night  in  an 
open  field  dozing  on  fence  rails. 

It  has  been  necessary  to  refer  often  to  a  sort  of  hammock  or  bed  in  .the  mud 
made  of  rails.  I  will  explain  to  those  who  in  after  time  may  read  these  lines  that 
this  kind  of  bed  was  made  by  spreading  rails  on  the  ground.  They  were  gen 
erally  pine  in  that  country  and  of  the  same  size  and  shape  as  found  in  the  worm 


290     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

fences  of  Pennsylvania.  They  were  rough,  sharp  and  hard,  but  I  cannot  tell 
who  first  invented  them.  I  can  say  nothing  except  that  we  turned  the  soft  side 
up  and  lay  down  lengthwise  upon  them,  glad  to  keep  out  of  water,  using  our 
blankets,  and  they  were  scarce,  for  covering.  Most  of  the  men  had  no  blankets 
that  shivering  night ;  in  such  case  they  used  the  sky  or  sat  up  and  walked  round 
by  turns  to  keep  warm. 

Early  next  morning  Company  K  deployed  as  skirmishers  going  through  a 
swamp.  Captain  Fessler  commanded  the  left  of  the  line ;  I  had  charge  of  the 
right.  Before  we  reached  the  swamp  we  were  fired  upon  and  Private  Frank 
Carroll  was  mortally  wounded.  Beyond  the  swampy  ground  on  a  slight  eleva 
tion  stood  a  small  house  and  some  outbuildings  full  of  Johnnies.  I  ordered  the 
line  forward ;  with  a  cheer  the  boys  ran  up  and  surrounded  the  house.  The  thing 
was  all  done  so  quickly  the  Rebels  could  not  do  much  execution  with  their  rifles 
but  Howard  Vache  was  mortally  wounded.  We  captured  the  whole  squad  of 
Johnnies. 

I  continued  going  forward  with  a  part  of  the  skirmish  line ;  the  rest  of  our 
boys  remained  with  the  prisoners  and  held  the  house.  As  we  advanced,  looking 
a  little  to  my  right,  we  saw  about  200  yards  off  a  Johnnie  standing  in  his  rifle 
pit.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  there  were  three  others  with  me.  Said  I,  "Boys,  make 
ready."  Counting  three  we  fired  a  volley ;  the  Johnny  disappeared.  We  had 
scarcely  shot  when  a  hot  minie  scraped  my  body.  I  said  to  the  boys,  "They  have 
got  a  flank  fire  on  us."  I  entered  an  outbuilding  and  gave  attention  in  direction 
of  some  breastworks  which  were  about  200  yards  to  our  left.  Every  time  we  saw 
a  shovel  full  of  dirt  thrown  up,  we  would  fire  at  it ;  this  was  done  to  keep  the 
Johnnies  down.  While  I  was  in  the  shed  Comrade  Kling,  who  was  outside,  called 
to  me,  "Myers,  get  away  from  that  window ;  there  is  no  protection  there."  I  had 
looked  out  and  seen  a  dead  Johnny  lying  near  the  building. 

Not  far  off  was  a  road;  when  we  reached  it  we  took  position  behind  some 
rail  piles.  Looking  toward  our  left  and  over  the  low  Rebel  breastworks,  which 
were  only  a  short  distance  away,  I  saw  a  Johnny  battery  run  into  position.  At 
first  I  thought  it  wyas  one  of  ours,  as  some  of  the  artillerymen  wore  blue  coats. 
This  battery  took  a  position  at  the  apex  of  an  acute  angle  on  their  line.  I  noticed 
that  we  were  not  in  direct  range  of  their  guns  as  they  faced  them  toward  our 
main  line.  I  said,  "Boys,  shoot  down  those  gunners  and  horses  as  quick  as  you 
can."  The  command  was  instantly  executed  and  as  we  had  a  flank  fire  on  the  bat 
tery  I  assure  you  we  made  it  hot  for  them.  I  have  no  recollection  of  their  firing 
more  than  one  shot  at  us  and  that  went  through  the  captured  house  behind  which 
Captain  Fessler's  line  held  position.  It  was  exciting  indeed  to  watch  those  gun 
ners,  who  though  driven  from  their  battery  made  heroic  but  vain  attempts  to 
crawl  close  to  the  gun  carriages  and  attach  ropes,  that  they  might  draw  them 
away.  We  did  not  have  force  enough  to  advance  and  capture  this  battery  but  I 
realized  at  the  moment  more  tremendously  than  words  can  tell,  the  possibilities  of 
doing  so.  If  we  had  only  had  a  regiment  at  that  place  with  us  we  could  easily 
have  broken  through  and  captured  that  line.  Late  in  the  afternoon  one  gun  was 
sent  as  far  as  the  house  to  support  us,  but  did  not  go  into  action.  It  was  my 
impression  at  the  time,  and  I  will  ever  have  it  with  me,  that  what  we  came  upon 
so  suddenly  there  that  forenoon  was  an  accidental  discovery  and  a  surprise  to 
the  Rebels. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  291 

I  remained  behind  the  rail  pile  but  a  short  time.  I  noticed  several  large  pop 
lar  trees  closeby;  I  got  behind  one  of  them  and  continued  firing.  The  Johnnies 
got  sight  of  me  and  it  was  not  very  long  until  one  of  their  bullets  grazed  my 
pant  leg  below  the  knee.  A  little  later  on  a  second  ball  struck  me  above  the 
knee,  causing  a  flesh  wound;  as  it  passed  through  my  skin  I  felt  a  sharp  pain 
just  like  a  knife  cut.  I  called  to  Comrade  Kelley,  "Bill,  I  am  wounded  but  in 
tend  to  stay  here  until  I  have  shot  my  cartridges."  After  my  cartridges  were 
all  gone  I  went  back  behind  the  house,  where  I  found  Captain  Fessler  and  Gen 
eral  Curtin.  I  pulled  up  my  pants  and  saw  that  a  bullet  had  only  cut  the  skin. 
Whereupon  I  said  to  Captain  Fessler,  "I  am  not  going  to  the  rear  for  that."  Tak 
ing  a  fresh  supply  of  ammunition  and  tucking  a  child's  petticoat  I  found  in  the 
house  under  my  blouse,  against  my  gun  shoulder,  as  a  buffer,  I  started  off  ready 
for  duty  again. 

Beyond  the  house  a  little  distance  was  a  picket  fence  and  close  by  the  out 
side  of  the  fence  grew  a  large  cherry  tree.  Elias  Arbogast  and  I  took  possession 
of  the  tree  and  fired  from  behind  it.  Arbogast  shot  from  the  one  side  and  I  from 
the  other ;  I  was  a  left-handed  shot.  Again  the  Johnnies  caught  sight  of  me  and 
gave  me  a  pretty  close  call,  sending  a  minie  through  the  waist  of  my  blouse. 
This  was  the  fourth  and  last  ball  that  hit  me  during  the  day.  Arbogast  and  I 
continued  to  fire  from  the  cherry  tree  all  afternoon,  our  guns  bruising  us  cruelly. 
Our  guns  had  become  violent  kickers  and  we  had  no  time  or  chance  to  clean 
them.  The  firing  ceased  at  night. 

I  was  generally  an  even-tempered  soldier  but  during  the  day's  fighting  at  the 
cherry  tree  I  was  made  mad  by  a  profane  blustering  fellow  from  some  other 
regiment,  who  had  taken  a  position  immediately  in  my  rear  behind  the  fence. 
Once  in  his  excitement  he  leveled  his  gun  close  up  to  my  ears  and  banged 
away.  I  thought  my  head  was  cracked;  my  ears  rang  and  roared.  Indeed  I 
was  so  much  shocked  or  stunned  I  was  almost  deaf.  I  reprimanded  hint  fiercely. 
He  paid  no  attention  to  me,  made  no  reply  at  least  but  continued  to  talk  to 
himself,  soundly  cursing  the  Rebels  as  he  repeatedly  ran  back  to  load  behind 
the  house  and  ran  out  to  fire  again. 

In  this  battle  our  losses  were  severe.  Company  K  lost  two  killed,  Moss  and 
Kahoe,  privates ;  and  16  wounded,  out  of  o'2  men  and  one  captain,  a  loss  of  33| 
per  cent.  I  will  state  that  personally  I  fired  more  rounds  on  this  particular  day 
than  in  all  my  army  record  put  together,  and  I  believe  the  others  of  our  company 
did  likewise.  The  regiment  lost,  if  I  am  correct,  160  killed  and  wounded.  Among 
the  latter  was  brave  Major  Kelsey,  formerly  captain  of  Company  K.  Captain 
Fessler  was  slightly  wounded  by  a  splinter  when  the  cannon  ball,  I  mentioned, 
passed  through  the  house. 

During  the  night  the  Johnnies  fell  back.  In  the  morning  we  went  to  their 
works  and  looked  at  the  place  where  we  had  shot  up  the  battery.  We  found  the 
guns  gone  but  they  had  left  a  caisson.  We  counted  55  dead  horses  where  it 
stood  and  realized  then  more  fully  the  effect  of  our  flank  fire  and  the  havoc  we 
had  played  among  them,  much  blood  in  the  trenches  showing  that  the  North 
Carolinians,  who  held  them,  suffered  severely.  Their  line  being  entrenched,  they 
had  us  at  great  disadvantage ;  we  had  no  protection  other  than  rail  piles,  a  house, 
a  few  large  trees  and  an  orchard.  Our  offset  to  their  advantage  consisted  in 


292     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

covering  them  with  a  flank  fire.  The  left  of  our  regiment  occupying  the  woods 
was  more  protected,  but  it  had  been  subjected  from  morning  to  night  to  an  in 
cessant  direct  fire. 

While  we  were  looking  over  the  battery  ground,  I  said,  "Kling,  let  us  go  to 
the  rifle  pit  where  we  shot  our  volley  at  the  Johnny."  When  we  got  there  and 
looked  in,  lo  and  behold,  there  stretched  out  lay  our  Mr.  Johnny,  shot  through 
the  neck ;  whether  our  party  had  killed  him  is  a  question.  This  fight  was  called 
the  Battle  of  Bethesda  Church. 

In  talking  with  General  Curtin  many  years  after  the  war  I  inquired,  "Why 
was  it,  General,  that  our  skirmish  line  was  not  supported  in  its  attack  on  that 
battery  at  Bethesda  and  the  Rebel  line  broken  up?"  He  replied  that  in  his  opin 
ion,  "It  was  not  then  any  part  of  General  Grant's  design  to  break  through  the 
Confederate  line,  but  to  hold  them  tight  in  place." 

On  June  4th  we  fell  back  again  to  Cold  Harbor.  On  the  7th  a  part  of  o<ur 
regiment  was  on  picket  duty.  Company  K  was  in  timber  on  the  extreme  right  of 
the  line  resting  on  a  swamp.  I  was  in  charge  of  the  right  of  Company  K.  Alonzo 
Stonecypher  was  sent  about  50  yards  forward,  as  a  vidette ;  Company  G  had  also 
put  forward  one  of  its  men  for  the  same  purpose.  A  large  field  adjoined  the 
woods ;  in  the  field  was  a  small  house.  The  vidette  from  Company  G  soon  came 
back  reporting  a  lot  of  Johnnies  behind  the  house.  Lieutenant  Co.  G  said  to  me, 
"Sergeant  Myers,  what  do  you  think  about  creeping  up  on  them?"  I  replied,  "Alt 
right,  I  am  in  for  it."  Turning  to  my  men  I  said,  "All  you  boys  that  will  volun 
teer  to  go  up  and  fire  into  those  Johnnies,  come  on."  A  dozen  or  more  of  Com 
pany  G  and  K  men  went  with  us.  The  house  stood  on  a  considerable  rise.  We 
sneaked  up  to  it  as  close  as  we  could.  We  saw  them  plainly  behind  the  house 
having  a  jolly  time  together.  They  did  not  dream  Yanks  were  close.  When  we 
were  all  ready  the  ringing  command,  "Fire/'  was  followed  by  a  loud  volley.  Of 
all  laughable  skedaddlements !  They  paused  a  moment  as  if  to  think,  and  then 
humping  themselves  jumped  wildly  in  all  directions.  We  put  a  second  round  in 
to  them.  By  the  time  they  had  run  some  distance  they  got  their  wits  together 
and  tried  to  rally.  They  then  returned  our  fire,  but  shooting  down  hill  over-shot 
us  and  did  no  harm.  This  escapade  was  fun  for  us  but  I  want  to  tell  you  we 
stirred  up  a  hornet's  nest  by  it. 

My  vidette,  Stonecypher,  still  out  in  the  woods,  the  moment  he  heard  our  fire 
took  a  notion  it  was  time  to  come  in  and  did  so  without  delay  or  ceremony.  Jrie 
reported  "great  numbers  of  Johnnies  out  there."  "How  do  you  know?"  I  asked. 
"I  heard  their  tin  cups  rattle,"  he  said.  I  pooh-poohed  this,  "What  you  heard 
was  the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania  getting  water  over  at  the  spring  on  the  other 
side  of  the  swamp,"  but  I  knew  better.  I  went  out  to  the  place  where  Stone- 
cypher  had  been  to  see  for  myself.  As  I  was  looking  through  the  woods  I  saw 
the  Johnnies  coming  about  100  yards  off,  and  they  were  coming.  I  was  behind  a 
tree  getting  ready  to  aim  at  one  I  had  noticed  slip  behind  a  tree  in  my  front. 
Casting  my  eyes  around  to  the  right  I  saw  another  Johnny  about  30  yards  off 
stealthily  moving  toward  me.  He  did  not  appear  to  see  me.  He  was  searching 
the  woods  with  keen  eyes  toward  our  line.  I  could  only  see  a  part  of  his  body 
as  he  peered  over  a  bushy  edge  of  the  slope;  he  was  down  hill  from  me  but  I 
turned  from  my  first  man  and  took  dead  aim  on  him.  I  fired.  He  disappeared, 
sinking  down. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  293 

I  was  in  a  dangerous  place  and  took  no  time  to  examine  the  effect  of  my 
shot  but  got  back  to  our  men  at  a  Stonecypher  gait.  After  rejoining  the  squad 
I  stood  behind  a  pine  tree  which  grew  near  the  edge  of  a  narrow  strip  of  tim 
ber  on  the  sharp  verge  of  the  hill  or  bank  which  ran  down  to  the  swamp.  While 
there  looking  to  my  right  toward  the  swamp  I  saw  four  Johnnies  crouching  along 
toward  us  intently  listening  and  on  sharp  watch ;  they  did  not  see  us.  As  quick 
as  I  saw  them  I  said,  "Lieutenant,  look  down  there.  Do  you  see  those  Johnnies 
trying  to  get  around  us?"  We  both  fired  at  them.  They  wheeled  and  started 
for  the  woods.  I  got  a  second  shot  at  them,  which  they  returned.  Their 
aim  was  true;  the  bullet  hit  the  tree  I  stepped  behind.  While  occupied  with 
these  fellows  in  this  exposed  position,  a  loud  Rebel  yell  came  from  our  left  and 
rear ;  then  we  knew  a  charge  on  our  pickets  had  been  made.  We  were  in  a  bad 
fix,  almost  certain  to  be  cut  off. 

I  had  seen  the  others  getting  out  of  there  and  thought  I  was  the  last  to  go 
but  in  this  I  was  mistaken.  Corporal  George  Stape,  Alonzo  Stonecypher  and 
Dennis  Collins  remained  too  long  in  the  rifle  pit  and  were  captured.  As  I  ran 
back  I  snatched  a  red  handkerchief  hanging  on  a  bush.  Bullets  were  zipping,  clip 
ping  leaves  and  branches  all  around  me. 

Respecting  the  Rebel  I  had  seen  sink  down  in  the  woods,  I  must  relate  that 
Alonzo  Stonecypher,  who  after  capture  had  been  a  long  time  w7ith  the  Rebels,  told 
me  many  years  later,  "Myers,  do  you  know  that  you  killed  that  Rebel  you  shot 
at  when  on  picket  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  7th?" 

Following  this  last  attack  on  our  pickets  a  number  of  Company  K  fortu 
nately  escaped  by  a  short  cut  through  the  swamp.  Captain  Fessler's  squad  took 
another  route  and  escaped  only  by  the  skin  of  his  teeth.  Houtz,  Kelley  and  my 
self  kept  close  along  the  edge  of  the  swamp  and  at  some  distance  came  to  a  cor 
duroy  bridge  which  we  crossed.  As  we  approached  the  bridge  running,  we  came 
upon  some  Union  men  there  who  seemed  to  be  uncertain  of  their  movements. 
They  saluted  us  with  a  rasping,  "Oh,  you  cowards!  What  are  you  running  for?" 
I  replied  in  heat,  "If  you  are  so  brave,  why  clidn't  you  come  out  and  help  sup 
port  us  ?  Wait  a  minute  here  and  you  will  have  a  chance  to  see  why  we  run." 

After  consulting  with  these  fellows  we  decided  to  go  back  over  the  bridge 
and  reconnoitre  up  in  the  woods.  We  saw  no  Johnnies  and  returned.  Follow 
ing  the  other  side  of  the  swamp,  we  rejoined  our  regiment.  The  part  of  Com 
pany  K  that  waded  the  swamp  stayed  all  night  with  another  command,  reaching 
the  regiment  next  morning. 

We  remained  here  five  or  six  days,  when  we  were  ordered  by  left  flank,  to 
a  point  near  the  James  River,  where  we  stayed  until  the  pontoon  bridge  across 
the  James  was  completed.  Then  came  orders  to  move.  The  bridge  was  2,200 
feet  long. 

On  the  evening  of  June  15th  we  crossed  over  and  moved  toward  Petersburg. 
It  was  a  terrible  night's  march ;  a  great  many  of  the  boys  fell  out.  About  mid 
night  our  company  cook,  Peter  Strickler,  complained  to  me  that  he  was  over 
loaded,  that  in  addition  to  the  camp  kettles,  he  had  to  carry  sugar.  To  lighten 
his  load,  I  called  the  boys  together  and  told  them  that  each  should  take  what 
sugar  he  wanted.  The  boys  helped  themselves;  the  balance  was  left  behind.  I 


294     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

could  not  drink  sweetened  coffee,  black  coffee  being  my  drink,  and  whenever  I 
had  a  chance  I  filled  my  canteen  with  it. 

We  continued  our  march  all  night.  Next  morning,  when  we  halted  to  get 
breakfast,  it  was  found  that  the  regiment  had  dwindled  to  about  one-half  its 
number ;  the  fagged  boys  came  straggling  along  later.  After  breakfast  we  started. 
It  was  hot  and  dusty.  We  had  not  gone  far  before  we  heard  cannon  booming. 
This  stirred  the  old  Forty-fifth's  fighting  blood  and  made  us  eager  to  get  where 
we  could  help  "capture  Petersburg."  Everybody  was  in  for  that,  but  we  found 
plenty  of  time  to  learn  that  it  was  not  an  easy  job  to  take  Petersburg.  This  old 
town  on  the  Appomattox  was  the  home  of  some  of  the  best  families  in  Virginia, 
who  were  bravely  determined  upon  their  defense  of  it. 

The  march  this  day  was  hard.  It  had  been  forced  because  we  were  badly 
needed  at  the  front.  Approaching  Petersburg  we  met  some  negro  troops  guard 
ing  Rebel  captives.  As  we  passed  them  they  said  to  us,  "There  am  only  a  few 
pots  left  to  take  yet."  (Colored  troops  always  called  Redans  "pots.")  About  6 
P.  M.,  our  regiment  arrived  in  front  of  the  town.  I  call  it  behind  the  town.  We 
held  a  position  in  the  woods  southeast  of  the  Norfolk  &  Petersburg  Railroad,  op 
posite  a  fort  which  I  think  was  the  one  afterwards  known  as  "The  Crater."  As 
soon  as  we  got  in  place  our  cook  went  to  boiling  coffee.  Just  as  it  was  ready  to 
dish  out  came  an  order,  "Fall  in."  It  was  hurry  of  course  but  I  managed  to  fill 
my  canteen  and  took  time  to  wrap  my  skillet  HI  my  shelter  tent,  and  flung  the 
roll  across  my  shoulder  and  breast.  I  thought  at  the  time,  "If  a  minie  ball  hits 
this  skillet  it  will  glance."  When  all  was  ready  to  move  we  were  ordered  to  the 
right.  We  had  not  gone  far  in  that  direction  when  Captain  Fessler  gave  orders, 
"Close  up,  boys."  I  repeated  his  command.  That  instant  a  cannon  ball  hit  a 
tree  and  passing  through,  it  struck  me  on  the  left  leg  above  the  knee.  It  was  a 
spent  shot  or  that  would  have  been  the  last  of  "Sweaty  Myers."  Its  force,  how 
ever,  threw  me  10  or  15  feet.  I  landed  on  my  back,  down  and  out.  Four  or  five 
of  the  boys  carried  me  some  distance  to  the  rear.  At  first  I  thought  my  leg  was 
broken,  but  it  was  not. 

It  now  grew  dark.  I  said,  "Boys,  go  back  to  the  company."  They  told  me 
two  months  later  (when  I  had  returned  from  the  hospital),  that  they  did  not  go 
back  that  night. 

The  boys  had  laid  me  down  in  the  woods.  Our  hospital  steward,  a  sym 
pathetic  man,  James  A.  Meyers,  was  always  on  careful  look-out  for  any  of  us 
whenever  the  regiment  went  into  action.  He  found  me  lying  up  against  a  tree, 
still  holding  on  to  my  canteen  of  coffee.  The  ambulance  took  me  to  the  field 
hospital.  There  was  another  poor  fellow  in  the  ambulance  with  me,  who  had 
been  hit  on  the  shins  just  as  I  had  been.  He  suffered  as  I  did  from  what  the 
doctors  called  a  "painful  contusion." 

I  remained  in  the  hospital  a  few  days,  limping  around.  On  June  18th  I  saw 
General  Curtin  brought  to  the  field  hospital  wounded.  We  had  been  under  con 
tinuous  fire  from  the  time  we  crossed  the  Rapidan  at  Germania  Ford,  until  June 
16th,  the  day  I  was  wounded. 

Having  begun  to  feel  anxious  to  get  to  some  general  hospital  I  was  sent  to 
Annapolis.  Mrs.  Myers,  and  Brother  Samuel,  who  was  home  on  a  furlough, 
came  from  Lancaster  County  to  see  me  there. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  295 

I  remained  in  the  hospital  about  six  weeks  then  started  for  the  front  once 
more.  I  arrived  about  August  15th,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  and  had  a 
chance  to  do  some  firing  at  the  Rebels  in  the  Crater.  It  was  certainly  a  danger 
ous  place.  We  had  to  keep  close  behind  our  breastworks  and  both  sides  main 
tained  continuous  firing.  Many  of  the  Forty-fifth  boys  were  killed  and  wounded 
at  this  place. 

The  regiment  was  next  moved  a  short  distance  westward  into  "Fort  Hell" — 
the  Rebel  name  for  Fort  Sedgewick.  The  Yanks  of  this  fort  and  the  Johnnies 
in  "Fort  Damnation"  (Fort  Mahone),  seemed  on  better  terms  than  those  on  the 
crater  line. 

At  the  time  the  spent  cannon  ball  hit  me  I  was  acting  as  first  sergeant.  Ser 
geant  Charles  Koch  succeeded  me.  One  day  Captain  Fessler  came  to  me  at  "Fort 
Hell"  and  asked  me  if  I  had  charge  of  Company  K  again.  I  said,  "No,  I  do  not 
know  that  I  am  to  act  as  Orderly."  "Yes,  you  take  charge  of  the  company,"  he 
said.  I  at  once  set  about  making  for  myself  a  complete  roster  of  the  Company. 
Shortly  after  this  had  been  done,  Sergeant  Koch  came  to  me  and  said,  "M'yer's, 
you  are  detailed  to  go  on  picket."  I  said,  "Sergeant  Koch,  it  will  fall  to  your 
lot  to  go  on  the  picket  line  this  morning."  His  was  a  look  of  blank  surprise. 
Then  I  said  to  him,  "Koch,  before  we  go  any  further,  I  will  call  Captain  Fessler* 
who  will  state  how  the  case  stands."  When  the  captain  came,  he  said,  "Koch, 
Myers  has  been  promoted  first  sergeant  by  order  of  General  Curtin  for  corf- 
spicuous  bravery  at  Bethesda  Church."  I  felt  good  and  of  course  Comrade 
Koch  went  with  the  detail  to  picket.  The  next  day  he  felt  a  little  sore  and  took 
his  own  way  to  relieve  it,  but  his  bruise  wore  off  and  we  were  ever  afterward 
good  friends.  I  made  it  all  right,  as  will  appear  later  on,  when  I  made  a  way 
for  his  appointment  as  first  lieutenant,  and  I  took  second  place. 

Many  things  happened  to  us  at  "Fort  Hell."  Our  pickets  and  the  Johnnies,  as 
I  have  said,  were  on  good  terms ;  the  two  lines  were  very  close.  Whenever  the 
Johnnies  intended  to  open  batteries,  they  would  call  out  from  their  pits,  "Ho  !  Yanks  ! 
Crawl  into  your  holes,  we  are  going  to  shell."  It  didn't  require  a  second  notice. 
I  remember  well  on  one  occasion  a  Rebel  battery  opened  on  us  after  dark;  we  all 
ran  out  of  the  bomb  proofs  to  our  places  behind  the  breastworks,  ready  to  resist 
a  charge.  The  officers  had  fully  advised  everybody  to  "keep  heads  down."  Com 
rade  Armstrong  of  Company  B  forgetting  himself  and  looking  over  the  works,  a 
shell  struck  him  in  the  forehead.  The  shot  that  hit  him  was  pointed  like  a  minie 
ball  and  split  his  head  to  the  nose. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  sights  of  war  \vas  witnessed  by  us  at  night  when 
the  armies  shelled  each  other.  A  great  game  of  ball  it  was.  The  spheres  weighed 
50  to  100  pounds  each.  With  a  screeching  howl  they  came  in  great  up  curves 
from  mortars  behind  the  lines.  There  was  no  umpire.  How  the  batteries  played 
with  each  other !  We  could  see  the  shells  start ;  the  blazing  fuses  lit  up  thei'r 
arching  courses  like  rockets  and  as  they  passed  back  and  forth  they  presented  a 
spectacle  unequaled  for  terrible  grandeur.  It  was  one  never  to  be  forgotten. 
These  shells  generally  landed  in  our  rear  where  they  bursted  with  frightful  re 
port.  We  got  so  used  to  them  we  always  w'atched  for  the  night  performance  with 
delight. 


296     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

On  or  about  August  19th  we  broke  camp  for  another  move,  the  Weldon 
Railroad  being  our  objective  point.  When  we  reached  our  new  position  our  left 
connected  with  the  Fifth  Corps.  Although  the  Fifth  Corps  had  done  great  work 
capturing  the  railroad,  several  days  before  we  got  there,  our  regiment  did  not 
get  into  any  severe  fighting. 

The  night  of  the  19th  was  very  disagreeable.  It  had  rained  the  whole  day 
and  with  the  enemy  immediately  in  our  front  we  were  not  permitted  to  build 
fires.  Our  company  was  in  woods  in  line  of  battle  on  constant  watch  ready  to 
receive  attack.  The  next  morning  we  moved  forward  quite  a  distance  without 
meeting  any  Rebels.  After  securing  the  Weldon  Railroad  we  established  perma 
nent  line  of  formidable  works.  Our  principal  occupation  here  was  strengthening 
defenses  and  picket  duty.  The  camp,  sheltered  by  these  defenses  and  the  woods, 
was  known  as  "Camp  in  the  Pines ;"  it  was  a  charming  location.  An  unusual 
ration  was  issued  to  the  men  in  this  camp ;  whiskey  was  served  once  a  day  for  two 
weeks  as  a  "precaution  against  malarial  fever."  I  had  no  occasion  to  take  either 
the  whiskey  or  the  fever. 

During  this  period  we  had  uninterruptedly  two  enemies  to  contend  against. 
General  Mahone  was  in  front;  myriads  of  graybacks  on  our  rear.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  say  which  of  these  fellows  gave  us  the  most  annoyance.  Old  soldiers 
understand  well  how  it  was  that  on  such  a  continuous  campaign  as  General  Grant 
maintained  from  the  Wilderness  to  Appomattox,  and  the  amount  of  work  he  kept 
us  doing,  it  was  impossible  to  keep  clean.  Grant's  veterans  and  the  grayback 
were  inseparable. 

While  stationed  at  Camp  in  the  Pines  we  had  on  the  whole  a  good  time. 
Early  every  morning  a  part  of  the  company  would  man  the  works  and  prepare 
to  meet  any  sudden  attack;  this  was  kept  up  from  August  20th  to  September 
30th.  There  was  one  man,  a  coward,  in  our  company  who  continually  found 
fault  with  the  army  and  manifested  sympathy  with  the  Rebels.  This  thing  be-^ 
came  a  bore  to  us  boys.  One  day  I  said  to  him,  "Blank,  if  you  favor  the  Rebels, 
go  over  and  fight  for  them,  or  shut  your  mouth ;  if  you  don't,  we  will  take  you 
to  the  picket  line  and  make  you  go." 

On  September  30th  we  again  received  orders  to  move  by  our  left  to  Poplar 
Springs  Church,  near  the  South  Side  Railroad.  We  halted  in  some  timber  or 
woods  near  Poplar  Springs.  While  lying  at  a  short  rest  there  cannon  balls  be 
gan  to  fall  pretty  close  to  us.  Whereupon  this  same  coward  crawled  behind  a 
rotten  stump.  I  said  to  him,  "Do  you  for  one  moment  think  that  old  stump  will 
stop  a  cannon  ball  ?"  He  mumbled,  but  kept  to  his  stump. 

While  going  to  a  point  where  there  had  been  severe  fighting,  we  passed  a 
squad  of  Johnnies  and  a  breastwork  that  had  been  captured  by  the  Fifth  Corps. 
Late  in  the  afternoon  our  company  was  deployed  as  skirmishers  in  a  woods  cov 
ered  with  underbrush,  so  thick  we  could  hardly  get  through.  We  had  not  gone 
far  into  the  thicket  when  orders  came  to  rejoin  our  regiment,  which  was  going 
to  the  front  over  open  ground  on  our  left.  We  rejoined  the  regiment  on  the 
edge  of  a  woods  at  a  fence  which  enclosed  a  large  field.  We  were  ordered  over 
the  fence.  While  forming  in  the  field,  I  said  in  the  hearing  of  the  coward, 
"Boys,  if  -  —  attempts  to  run  back  I  will  shoot  him."  He  took  the  hint  and  did 
not  run. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  297 

In  order  to  straighten  our  line  and  properly  face  it  to  the  enemy,  our  ob 
jective  point  being  a  fence  row  at  right  angle  to  the  line  we  held  as  we  came  out 
of  the  woods,  the  regiment  had  to  make  a  right  half  wheel.  Executing  this 
thrilling  movement  midway  in  the  field,  the  boys  gave  a  great  cheer  and  rushed 
forward.  I  have  often  thought  since  what  a  mistake  that  cheer  was  as  it  in 
stantly  drew  upon  us  a  heavy  and  destructive  fire.  General  Curtin's  horse  was 
killed  under  him.  When  we  were  about  50  yards  from  the  fence  I  was  hit  by  a 
bullet  and  went  down.  As  I  fell  John  Beaver,  one  of  my  mess  mates,  thinking 
me  killed,  said,  "There  goes  Myers !"  I  had  bought  a  silver  watch  from  Beaver 
several  months  before.  He  told  me  long  afterwards  that  he  thought  of  the  watch 
as  soon  as  he  saw  me  fall  and  intended  to  get  it  for  my  friends,  rather  than 
leave  it  for  the  Johnnies,  but  he  was  kept  too  busy  fighting  to  do  so.  The  boys 
reached  the  fence. 

Where  I  lay  the  bullets  dropped  thick  and  fast  all  around  me,  and  as  I  could 
do  no  fighting  I  took  my  blanket,  which  was  in  a  roll,  and  placed  it  in  front  of 
my  head  as  some  slight  protection.  Along  the  fence  row  grew  some  large  trees. 
I  could  see  Captain  Fessler  and  John  Enny,  my  other  mess  mate,  behind  a  huge 
oak  firing.  John  Enny  was  killed  and  Captain  Fessler  wounded  in  the  thigh  at 
this  tree. 

Our  line  now  hard  pressed  was  broken  on  the  right ;  the  regiment  had  to  re 
treat  and  leave  me  behind.  I  will  always  remember  calling  to  them  as  they  went 
back  past  me,  "Don't  run,  boys."  In  a  short  time  the  Rebel  line  came  up,  sprang 
over  the  fence  and  passed  me  as  I  lay  on  the  field.  To  them  I  said,  "Don't 
shoot ;  I  am  wounded,"  and  asked  them  to  help  me  to  the  rear.  They  said  to  me, 
"No,  we  can't  leave  our  ranks.  Crawl  to  the  rear."  I  saw  a  fine  looking  officer 
with  sword  in  hand  pass  close ;  some  of  the  Johnnies  told  me  his  name  was  Gen 
eral  McCrea.  This  was  a  North  Carolina  regiment.  They  had  not  gone  far  in 
pursuit  when  they  came  back. 

As  best  I  could  I  crawled  to  the  fence  and  got  over  it  among  the  Johnnies. 
I  did  not  know  at  that  time  that  Captain  Fessler  had  been  wounded  or  that  John 
Enny  had  been  killed,  nor  that  they  were  both  near  me  while  I  was  lying  among 
the  Rebels.  It  was  now  getting  dusk.  Not  far  off  I  noticed  four  or  five  men  in 
United  States  uniform,  without  guns,  running  toward  the  Rebel  rear.  I  was 
astonished  to  hear  them  shout  to  the  Confederates,  "Give  it  to  them ;  you've  got 
them  now."  I  shall  never  forget  the  fierce  indignation  I  felt  as  I  lay  there  help 
less,  hearing  men  wearing  the  same  uniform  as  myself,  encouraging  the  enemy. 
My  heart  never  felt  like  that  toward  any  living  creature  since  and  I  never  want 
it  to  do  so. 

Some  of  the  Johnnies  offered  me  of  their  biscuits  ;  they  treated  me  kindly. 
An  officer,  whom  I  asked  to  let  his  men  take  me  to  the  rear,  replied  roughly, 
"What  did  you  come  down  here  to  fight  us  for?"  I  thought  it  best  to  keep  quiet 
on  that  subject.  Finally  they  brought  a  stretcher  and  started  to  the  rear  with  me. 
By  this  time  it  was  dark.  Our  battery  had'  fired  several  shells,  which  fell  near 
where  we  were,  but  it  soon  quieted  down  and  firing  ceased  entirely.  Two  men 
carried  me  to  the  rear.  They  had  a  great  time  getting  me  back;  it  was 
swampy  ground  they  carried  me  over.  One  of  the  Johnnies  lost  his  shoe;  it 
stuck  in  the  mud.  They  set  me  down  and  hunted  the  shoe  until  they  found  it. 


298     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Finally  they  got  me  out  on  a  road  where  there  were  others  of  our  wounded.  I 
thanked  those  two  men  for  the  way  they  stuck  to  me  and  my  stretcher,  and 
should  it  ever  happen  that  I  capture  a  North  Carolina  Confederate  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  I  will  treat  him  well  on  their  account. 

It  was  a  dreary  night  with  me.  The  ground  was  very  wet.  Along  about 
ten  o'clock  reaction  set  in  and  I  suffefed  great  agony  for  several  hours,  when 
the  pain  in  my  wound  suddenly  left  me.  Somehow  I  found  out  that  Captain 
Fessler  was  lying  a  short  distance  from  me.  I  said  to  a  Johnny,  "Please  tell  that 
captain  to  come  over  here."  They  brought  him  over  and  laid  him  down  along 
side  of  me;  this  made  me  feel  something  better.  I  was  using  my  haversack  for 
a  pillow;  it  was  full  of  rations.  In  my  restlessness  I  would  sometimes  sit  up. 
Finally  when  I  lay  down  again  I  found  it  gone.  Some  hungry  Johnny  took  it. 
They  tried  to  buy  my  shoes. 

Some  time  after  midnight  an  ambulance  came.  They  put  Captain  Fessler  in. 
As  they  lifted  me  I  fainted.  When  I  came  to  I  was  lying  on  my  back  in  the  road 
where  they  had  left  me  for  dead.  When  near  morning  they  found  me  alive,  they 
took  me  to  their  field  hospital.  When  we  reached  it  I  expected  to  get  into  a  com 
fortable  place,  but  I  was  disappointed.  There  was  with  me  a  young  boy,  prob 
ably  18  years  old,  who  had  a  severe  wound  in  his  leg.  In  the  field  hospital,  or 
rather  on  the  outside  of  it  (everything  was  out  of  doors),  we  had  to  make  our 
selves  as  comfortable  as  we  could. 

While  there,  I  met  a  fine  looking  Confederate  major  and  several  doctors. 
One  was  from  Baltimore.  He  saw  that  I  had  a  watch  and  said,  "Sergeant,  I 
will  give  you  three  hundred  dollars  Confederate  money  for  your  watch."  "No, 
but  if  you  will  give  me  fifty  dollars  in  greenbacks,  you  may  have  the  watch,"  I 
said.  He  did  not  buy  it.  He  kindly  warned  me  though  to  be  careful  when  I  got 
to  Richmond  or  they  might  take  it  away  from  me.  The  Confederate  major  asked 
me  many  questions  in  regard  to  our  army ;  he  wanted  to  know  what  had  become 
of  General  Hancock's  Corps.  To  this  I  replied,  "'Major  if  you  knew  how  much 
of  the  line  Hancock  is  holding  now,"  pointing  in  the  direction  of  our  line,  "you 
wouldn't  ask  what  had  become  of  him."  I  further  told  him  that  General  Han 
cock  had  relieved  our  division  when  we  came  to  attack  them.  The  next  question 
he  asked  me  was,  "Well,  how  about  that  500,000  draft?"  "Major,"  I  said,  "if 
you  could  see  the  numbers  of  men  rolling  into  the  rear  of  our  line,  you  wouldn't 
ask  me  another  question  about  that.'5  Then  I  asked  him  how  he  got  his  wound. 
He  told  me,  "I  was  in  command  of  a  regiment  of  about  200  men  and  made  an 
attack  to  retake  our  line."  I  said  to  him,  '"Major,  you  were  very  foolish  in  try 
ing  to  retake  those  works.  There  might  have  been  several  thousand  men  in  them." 

The  wounded  boy  and  I  were  given  a  few  rails  to  lie  on  at  the  hospital.  It 
made  a  pretty  tough  bed  but  in  the  army  we  hunted  the  soft  side  of  things.  I 
gave  a  Johnny  my  fine  gold  pen  for  a  small  old  blanket.  Really  they  did  the 
best  for  us  they  could ;  they  absolutely  had  nothing.  Seeing  this  to  be  a  fact  it 
made  us  satisfied.  During  the  night  it  rained  very  hard  and  we  were  wet  to  the 
skin.  The  next  day  the  doctors  took  the  boy  away  to  amputate  his  leg.  His  pa 
tient  willingness  deeply  touched  me. 

When  the  doctor  came  to  my  place  he  said,  "Sergeant,  I  would  rather  have 
taken  your  leg  off  than  that  boy's."  I  said,  "Oh,  no,  doctor,  I  would  not  allow 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  299 

you  to  take  my  leg  off,  as  I  may  be  able  to  give  you  another  rally  with  it  before 
this  war  is  over."  Quite  a  number  of  old  Johnnies,  none  less  than  60  years  of 
age,  standing  around  heard  me  say  this.  When  the  doctor  had  gone  I  spoke  to 
them,  "You  all  look  to  me  as  if  you  had  families.  Are  you  not  tired  of  this 
war?"  "Yes,  we  are;  we  would  be  satisfied  with  peace  on  any  terms,"  they  said. 
I  then  remarked,  "Men,  this  war  will  last  20  years  if  the  South  does  not  give 
up."  I  began  to  see  how  things  were  going  in  the  South. 

While  in  the  hospital  the  Confederate  major  held  frequent  conversations 
with  me.  One  day  an  elderly  southern  lady,  sitting  a  short  distance  off,  called 
out  to  him,  "Major!  Major!  come  away  from  that  Yank.  You  are  all  the  time 
talking  to  him."  The  fact  is  the  major  and  I  took  mutual  pleasure  in  each  other. 

One  day  I  noticed  a  Johnny  filling  his  canteen  with  powder.  I  said  to  him, 
"Why  are  you  filling  your  canteen  with  powder?"  His  answer  was,  "I  intend 
to  send  it  home  so  that  I  will  have  some  to  go  hunting  after  the  war."  I  said  to 
him,  "Well,  Johnny,  I  am  fond  of  hunting  too."  He  looked  up  cheerily  and  said, 
"Come  down,  Yank,  to  see  me  after  the  war  is  over  and  we  will  have  a  good  time 
hunting  together."  He  was  a  North  Carolinian. 

The  same  day  the  boy,  whose  leg  had  been  amputated,  and  I  were  put  into 
a  wagon  and  taken  to  the  railroad.  He  was  consigned  to  a  field  hospital  near 
Petersburg;  I  was  sent  to  Richmond.  On  the  road,  which  was  terribly  rough, 
the  poor  boy  suffered  intensely.  He  cried  pitifully  the  whole  way,  but  such  is 
war.  When  we  arrived  at  the  railroad  I  was  loaded  into  a  freight  car  with  a 
lot  of  Johnnies.  While  enroute  to  Richmond  I  said  to  a  young  man  dressed  in 
blue,  "We  seem  to  be  about  the  only  Yanks  on  this  car."  "If  you  think  I  am  a 
Yank,  you  are  very  much  mistaken ;  I  shot  a  Yank  and  took  his  clothes,"  he 
said  with  a  matter  of  course  air. 

As  we  passed  along,  looking  off  toward  the  right  in  direction  of  our  lines, 
I  saw  General  Butler's  look-out,  a  big  frame  tower.  Oh,  how  I  did  wish  I  was 
over  there  on  that  look-out.  We  arrived  at  Richmond  in  the  evening.  I  was 
taken  out  of  the  car  and  laid  on  some  planks  along  the  railroad  tracks.  After  a 
while  an  old  citizen  came  along  and  saluted  me  with  "Ho,  Yank,  you  are  good 
for  the  war,"  meaning  I  was  done  up.  "All  right  if  I  am,"  I  replied  as  good 
naturedly  as  I  could.  Remarks  of  this  kind  generally  made  a  soldier  surly,  but 
this  did  not  affect  me.  In  a  short  time  an  ambulance  took  me  to  a  hospital,  one 
better  equipped  than  at  Petersburg.  It  was  full  of  sick  and  wounded.  The 
nurses  in  it  were  of  our  own  men.  I  was  there  probably  four  or  five  days  when 
an  order  came  for  exchange.  The  method  of  exchange  was  this:  one  day  our 
names  would  be  enrolled  for  exchange,  and  the  next  morning  when  called  we 
would  be  marched  out  to  the  exchange  boat. 

Queer  things  happen.  One  of  our  men  died  on  the  very  day  his  name  and 
mine  were  enrolled.  Next  morning  his  name  was  called.  As  he  did  not  answer, 
it  was  called  a  second  time.  Then  I  heard  one  of  the  nurses  near  me  answer 
"Here"  and  he  fell  into  line  with  me,  and  passed  out  without  detection.  When 
we  were  safe  aboard  Uncle  Sam's  boat  he  said  to  me,  "I  am  a  happy  man." 

We  were  put  aboard  a  Rebel  transport  at  Richmond,  which  took  us  down 
the  James  River  to  Butler's  Dutch  Canal.  I  was  surprised  to  meet  Captain  Fess- 
ler  on  the  boat;  glad  we  were  to  see  each  other.  Taken  across  a  neck  of  land 


300     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

at  the  Dutch  Canal  in  a  United  States  ambulance  and  put  on  board  a  boat,  we 
arrived  at  Annapolis.  One  of  the  Company  I  boys  helped  to  put  me  on  a 
stretcher  and  I  was  taken  to  Ward  C  in  the  Annapolis  hospital. 

There  were  quite  a  number  of  wards  and  they  contained  many  sick  and 
wounded.  Upon  entering  all  soldiers  were  stripped  and  given  a  bath  before  as 
signed  a  cot.  The  cots  were  as  clean  as  a  new  pin. 

As  soon  as  I  could  I  wrote  from  Annapolis  telling  my  wife  that  I  had  been 
"wounded  in  the  middle  third  of  my  right  leg,  the  small  bone  being  shattered  and 
several  of  the  tendons  shot  off,"  as  tTie  doctor  described  it.  My  wife  and  father 
came  down  shortly  to  see  me.  At  this  time  I  did  not  know  that  John  Beaver, 
who  saw  me  fall  in  the  fight  at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  had  written  to  my  wife 
that  I  was  "among  the  missing."  He  told  me  afterward  that  he  really  thought 
me  dead.  A  few  days  before  they  started  for  Annapolis  a  report  also  reached 
home  that  I  had  died.  It  was  a  terrible  shock  to  her  but  she  came  down. 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  ward  the  nurses  stood.  My  father,  a  most  diffi 
dent  and  modest  man,  was  slow  in  asking  for  me,  but  Mrs.  Myers  spoke  out,  "Is 
there  a  soldier  by  the  name  of  Ephraim  E.  Myers  here?"  They  said,  "Mayers? 
Myers?"  hesitatingly.  It  was  a  trying  moment,  but  finally  they  answered,  "Yes, 
he  is  here;  come  along." 

My  cot  was  about  midway  down  Ward  C.  There  were  two  rows  of  cots 
with  an  aisle  running  through  the  center.  I  can  describe  minutely  and  with  calm 
thought  all  other  incidents  in  my  war  story,  but  for  the  moment  in  which  I  met 
my  wife  I  have  no  words.  My  father  and  she  remained  with  me  a  few  days.  I 
was  fortunate,  inasmuch  as  my  wound  never  gave  me  much  pain.  I  did  not  dis 
tress  her  with  manifest  suffering,  but  she  saw  and  heard  other  things  that  touched 
her  deeply  while  she  was  there. 

It  was  a  pitiful  sight  to  see  our  poor  men  as  they  came  to  the  hospital  from 
Rebel  prison  pens.  It  was  horrible;  they  were  skeletons,  starved,  contorted  with 
scurvey  and  sick  unto  death.  They  had  to  have  their  heads  shaved,  so  full  of* 
vermin  were  they.  No  one  knows  or  will  ever  comprehend  the  suffering  these 
went  through. 

When  I  had  been  at  the  hospital  a  while  I  was  detailed  clerk  to  take  the 
names  of  the  poor  fellows  brought  in  from  Rebel  prisons.  It  was  my  duty  to 
make  a  record  of  name,  regiment,  company  and  home  post  office  address.  A  very 
large  number  of  men  from  these  prisons  died  at  the  hospital.  It  was  also  my  lot 
to  make  out  a  card  giving  full  description  and  complete  information  of  them.  In 
this  work  I  was  called  up  at  all  hours  of  the  night.  A  great  many  visitors  came 
to  my  tent,  making  inquiry  regarding  brothers,  sons  or  relatives.  I  remember 
one  young  man  who  called  on  me  for  information  respecting  his  brother.  Just 
a  moment  before  I  had  made  out  a  dead  card  in  the  name  of  the  man  he  wanted 
I  was  sorry  to  inform  him  that  his  brother  was  in  the  dead  house. 

Daily  almost  I  saw  three  or  four  ambulances,  each  carrying  from  two  to  six 
corpses,  start  at  the  same  time  for  the  National  Cemetery;  the  dead  march  was 
always  played  to  the  grave.  I  tell  you,  my  dear  reader,  old  veterans  and  young 
patriots,  those  were  sad  times.  As  I  see  them  again  all  so  vividly  while  I  tell 
of  them  my  heart  swells  and  aches. 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  301 

On  November  4th,  1864,  an  election  for  president  of  the  United  States  was 
he!3  in  the  army  camps,  hospitals  and  on  battle  lines,  the  separate  states  being 
accredited  with  the  vote  of  their  soldiers  in  the  field.  In  hospitals  all  those  who 
could  not  walk  to  the  polls  were  carried  there.  At  our  voting  tent  I  saw  my  cap 
tain  carried  on  a  stretcher  to  vote.  It  was  the  first  time  we  had  met  since  the 
day  on  the  boat  when  we  were  exchanged.  It  was  a  happy  meeting.  He  was 
discharged  on  November  21st,  1864.  We  didn't  meet  again  until  29  years  after 
the  war  was  over. 

I  continued  in  the  hospital  office,  employed  as  stated,  until  after  the  holidays, 
when  I  was  taken  to  the  hospital  at  Baltimore.  We  were  there  a  month  or  more 
and  were  next  sent  to  the  Cuyler  Hospital  at  Germantown,  Pa.  There  I  received 
a  30-day  furlough  and  started  for  Mount  Joy.  I  could  cripple  along  with  the 
use  of  a  cane  and  had  a  pleasant  time  while  at  home.  When  my  furlough  ex 
pired  I  returned  to  Cuyler  Hospital. 

About  this  time  great  excitement  broke  out  at  the  front.  General  Grant  was 
making  his  final  attack  on  Petersburg.  News  of  the  movements  was  eagerly 
sought  through  the  Philadelphia  Inquirer,  the  leading  war  newspaper  in  Penn 
sylvania.  I  was  clerking  at  the  hospital  when  word  came  that  General  Lee  had 
surrendered.  What  a  time  there  was !  I  was  inexpressibly  aroused.  I  could 
scarcely  remain  at  my  work  in  the  hospital,  so  anxious  was  I  to  go  to  the  boys 
at  the  front. 

I  left  Philadelphia  on  or  about  April  13th  and  passed  through  Washington 
on  the  14th,  the  very  night  that  President  Lincoln  was  assassinated  but  I  did 
not  know  of  it  then.  Arrived  at  Alexandria,  we  took  boat  for  City  Point.  Pass 
ing  Fortress  Monroe  on  or  about  April  16th,  we  observed  our  flag  at  half 
mast.  We  knew  that  meant  that  some  prominent  person  or  general  had  been 
killed.  The  Fort  signaled  us  that  President  Lincoln  had  been  assassinated.  Oh, 
how  unspeakably  sad  we  felt !  The  very  sky  seemed  enveloped  in  gloom.  On 
the  way  up  to  City  Point  we  notified  everybody  we  passed  of  the  awful  news. 

From  Fortress  Monroe  to  City  Point,  we  were  mixed  up  with  a  tough  lot  of 
characters.  I  was  impressed  more  than  once  from  what  I  saw  that  the  last  days 
of  the  war  must  have  brought  to  the  ranks  a  ruffian  element  that  was  not  seen 
in  the  earlier  days  of  the  struggle.  I  thought  with  bitterness,  "Has  the  crop  of 
good  men  been  harvested  and  are  the  nubbins  being  hauled  in?" 

While  asleep  one  night  on  deck  somebody  stole  my  cap.  I  had  to  pay  a 
soldier  on  board,  who  belonged  to  another  regiment,  two  dollars  and  a  quarter 
for  an  extra  cap.  I  didn't  pay  him  cash,  I  bought  on  trust  and  never  saw  my 
creditor  after  we  landed.  I  don't  know  his  name  but  if  he  is  in  the  land  of 
the  living  and  reads  this  account,  upon  assurance  of  his  identity  it  will  be  a  joy 
to  pay  him  the  long  over-due  bill,  with  interest  to  date. 

I  arrived  at  City  Point  about  April  17th  and  was  there  put  with  others  into 
a  place  called  the  "Bull  Pen,"  until  arrangements  could  be  made  to  send  us 
forward.  The  "Bull  Pen''  was  a  disreputable  place  and  under  rigid  guard;  it 
contained  all  kinds  of  soldiers,  criminals  and  honest  men.  If  a  man  had  any 
thing  of  value  about  him  he  kept  it  shady.  To  my  disgust  I  was  compelled  to 
remain  in  the  pen  several  days,  when  a  squad  of  us  was  sent  on  foot  toward 


3O2     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Petersburg.  The  distance  was  long.  I  was  unable  to  finish  the  march.  My 
wound,  which  had  never  healed,  tormented  me;  I  played  out. 

Fortunately  I  met  Comrade  Washington  Hershey  of  Company  B  who  had 
charge  of  a  wagon  train  coming  back  from  the  front.  Observing  my  condition 
as  I  lay  by  the  roadside,  he  invited  me  to  return  with  him.  I  gladly  accepted  the 
offer  and  was  put  into  an  army  wagon.  In  due  time  we  arrived  at  City  Point 
and  I  remained  with  Mr.  Hershey  and  the  train  for  several  days,  waiting  for 
the  arrival  of  our  brigade,  which  we  knew  was  on  its  way  from  Appomattox. 

On  the  24th  the  brigade  arrived  and  went  into  camp  where  I  was  stationed. 
On  the  night  of  the  26th,  we  went  on  board  the  "Vidette,"  and  the  next  morn 
ing  started  down  the  James  River,  passing  Fortress  Monroe.  On  the  28th  we 
arrived  at  Alexandria.  Marching  through  the  town,  we  went  into  camp  behind 
the  city  in  left  front  of  Fort  Lyon.  We  remained  here  until  discharged.  Al 
though  discharged  July  17th,  I  was  not  paid  off  until  July  25th,  when  I  reached 
Harrisburg;  my  pay  was  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  dollars  per 
month  from  June  8,  1865,  the  date  of  my  commission  as  a  second  lieutenant. 

While  at  Alexandria  my  wound  annoyed  me  more  and  more.  One  night  re 
turning  from  a  variety  show,  I  found  a  splinter  of  bone  protruding.  Before  the 
doctor  arrived  next  morning  I  had  it  pulled  out.  This  \vas  the  last  piece  of 
bone  that  came  from  my  leg.  My  wound  healed  permanently  thereafter  and  it 
has  never  inconvenienced  me  since,  though  at  times,  as  I  grow  older,  I  feel  a 
peculiar  numbness  in  that  locality. 

While  at  Alexandria  a  big  event  came  off  at  the  National  capitol,  "The 
Grand  Review  of  the  Army."  It  has  always  been  a  regret  to  me  that  when  the 
order  came  to  attend  it,  my  wound  compelled  me  to  remain  behind  in  camp. 

I  wish  it  was  possible  to  express  my  feelings  and  make  plain  our  experi 
ences  when  we  started  homeward  from  City  Point.  Sunshine  and  shadows 
seemed  to  play  with  us.  We  knew  that  the  war  was  over,  Lincoln  dead,  Lee 
surrendered,  and  that  we  had  impressed  four  years  of  vigorous  young  man 
hood  on  the  battles  for  our  country.  We  had  hoped  and  prayed  for  the  end  of 
strife;  we  were  overjoyed  that  we  had  won  the  victory  and  the  end  had  come; 
as  comrades,  we  were  attached  by  devoted  ties,  we  loved  one  another ;  we 
were  dissolving  old  associations. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  to  be  without  a  musket  and  with  no  more  camps  or 
campaigns  to  look  forward  to,  we  would  be  out  of  an  occupation  and  without  a 
commission.  Settling  down  to  routine  daily  employment  in  slow  shop  and 
store  was  not  favorable  to  our  habits  of  life ;  we  felt  kind  of  lost.  Our  world 
of  thought  and  action  was  breaking  up ;  our  accustomed  ways  in  four  years 
of  singular  existence  seemed  forsaking  us ;  we  were  going  home  of  course  to 
friends  and  scenes  we  had  kept  alive  the  while  in  our  hearts,  but  after  all 
home  life  would  not  be  the  happy-go-lucky  army. 

Illustrative  of  the  fact  that  we  had  acquired  some  peculiar  habits,  domestic 
and  otherwise,  I  cannot  make  my  meaning  plainer  than  by  stating  an  absolutely 
true  anecdote. 

In  Lower  Chanceford,  York  County,  was  a  good  old  mother  who  had  three 
sons  in  the  war.  When  it  was  over  they  came  back  to  her  safe;  her  heart  was 
very  glad  and  proud.  Their  comfort  was  her  constant  thought.  Every  morning 


Experience  of  an  Orange  Recruit  303 

early  she  would  quietly  open  their  room  door  and  peep  in  at  them.  It  dis 
tressed  her  to  find  the  three  boys  lying  on  the  floor,  her  soft  sweet  feather 
ticks  untouched.  She  could  not  understand  it,  nor  could  she  stand  it  any 
longer,  so  one  morning  as  she  looked  in  upon  their  slumber  she  aroused  them 
with  these  words,  "Web!  Dave!  Jack!  What  are  you  doing  there  on  that 
hard  floor?''  Opening  their  drowsy  lids,  staring  at  her,  they  replied  ruefully, 
"We  can't  sleep  in  no  darn  bed,  mother.'' 

On  or  about  July  21st  we  departed  from  Alexandria  on  a  steamboat,  go 
ing  up  the  Potomac,  and  arrived  toward  evening  at  Washington.  We  walked 
from  the  boat  across  open  flats  or  vacant  lots  to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 
We  had  to  wait  an  hour  or  more  for  transportation.  When  the  box  cars 
came,  there  was  no  order  in  our  getting  aboard.  Every  man  helped  himself. 
Some  went  inside,  but  I  climbed  up  with  others  on  top.  As  our  train  did  not 
run  very  fast  and  had  every  kind  of  detention  along  the  road,  the  state  capitol 
was  not  reached  until  about  noon  next  day. 

At  Harrisbtirg  we  went  to  Camp  Curtin,  where  I  remained  until  paid  off, 
July  25th.  As  I  had  not  held  my  second  lieutenant's  commission  for  a  period  of 
six  months,  as  required,  I  was  not  included  among  the  officers  who  received 
"one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  extra  compensation  for  services." 

Of  my  army  accoutrements  the  only  things  I  brought  out  of  service  were 
a  woolen  blanket,  overcoat,  sabre  and  Springfield  rifle,  which  I  converted  later 
into  a  smoothbore. 

Our  two  days  at  Camp  Curtin  were  uneventful,  being  nothing  but  a  repeti 
tion  of  regular  camp  life,  except  there  was  no  guard  mount.  We  had  liberty 
to  go  and  come  as  we  pleased,  for  nobody  could  have  been  induced  to  desert 
just  before  pay  day. 

As  soon  as  we  were  paid  off  we  took  passenger  cars  for  Columbia.  On 
this  trip  we  paid  our  own  fares,  an  odd  thing  for  us,  as  Uncle  Sam  had  at 
tended  to  our  railroad  tickets  for  almost  three  and  a  half  years. 

When  we  pulled  into  Columbia  the  people  from  town  and  country  round 
presented  a  fine  picture  as  they  swarmed  about  the  station.  When  the  train 
stopped  we  could  not  do  much  but  watch  excited  wives  and  sweethearts,  old 
fathers  and  mothers,  little  brothers  and  sisters,  all  gleefully  clapping  their 
hands.  How  they  did  rush  in  eager  love  hither  and  thither,  seeking  their  own ! 

Oh,  it  was  good  to  look  upon  the  faithful  friends  who  had  come  to  greet 
and  welcome  us  home ! 

It  was  a  glorious  summer  evening.  We  had  a  happy  three  miles'  walk  to 
our  native  village  and  entered  Newtown  just  as  the  day  drew  to  a  close. 

At  last  I  had  rejoined  my  family  in  the  dear  old  place  which  first  knew  the 
"Orange  Recruits,"  and  from  whence  more  than  three  years  before  they  had 
gone  forth  to  bring  back,  let  us  hope,  somewhat  of  pride  and  honor. 

Years  have  slipped  away.  An  old  man's  story  of  a  young  man's  adventure 
has  been  told.  I  want  only  to  add  that  in  my  age  I  am  blest  with  health, 
family  and  friends,  and  devoutly  thank  my  Creator  for  safe  passage  through 
many  dangers.  EPHRAIM  E.  MYERS, 

York,  Pa.,  May  4th,  1910.  Second  Lieutenant,   Company  K. 


304     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


LIEUTENANT  COLONEL  F.  M.  HILLS 

F.  M.  Hills  was  born  in  Hebron,  Conn.,  June  15th,  1829.  His  military  career 
commenced  at  the  age  of  17,  at  which  time  he  enlisted  in  a  company  that  was 
being  recruited  by  Captain  James  Caldwell  at  Newton-Hamilton,  Pa.,  which 
company  afterward  became  Company  M,  Second  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Vol 
unteers,  and  marched  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  a  distance  of  300 
miles ;  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of  National  Bridge,  Chapiltepec  and  the 
taking  of  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  was  discharged  in  May,  1848,  by  reason  of 
an  injury  received  in  the  latter  engagement. 

F.  M.  Hills  came  to  Wellsboro  in  1856,  and  was  engaged  in  business  until 
the  summer  of  1861,  when  in  response  to  the  President's  call  for  more  volunteers, 
he  made  the  attempt  to  raise  a  company,  devoting  his  whole  time  and  energy 
to  that  purpose,  and  was  so  successful  that  on  the  30th  day  of  September,  1861. 
he  left  Wellsboro  for  Harrisburg  with  about  60  men. 

He  was  commissioned  captain  by  Governor  Curtin  and  sworn  into  service 
October  18th,  1861,  for  three  years  or  during  the  war. 

The  company  now  became  Company  I  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  Penn- 
sylvannia  Volunteer  Infantry,  commanded  by  Colonel  Thomas  Welsh. 

The  first  engagement  in  which  the  captain  participated  was  on  James  Island, 
S.  C.,  when  with  a  portion  of  Companies  H  and  I,  he  repulsed  a  regiment 
known  as  the  Georgia  Tigers. 

A  few  days  later  Captain  Hills  received  a  letter  from  Lieutenant  Colonel 
James  A.  Beaver,  which  speaks  for  itself: 

"HEADQUARTERS  OUTPOSTS, 
CAPTAIN—  GRAHAMS,  S.  C,  June  22d,  1862. 

I  have  been  very  much  gratified  in  hearing  the  account  of  the  heroic  con 
duct  of  Company  I,  as  also  of  Company  H,  in  the  late  important  movements  on 
James  Island. 

I  feel  peculiarly  gratified  with  the  conduct  of  Company  I  because  I  had 
been  so  intimately  associated  with  it  for  so  long. 

I  have  not  changed  my  opinion  of  it,  however,  in  the  least,  for  I  had 
always  regarded  it  as  second  to  none  in  the  regiment  for  material  and  it  was 
rapidly  improving  in  drill  and  discipline  before  it  left  here. 

The  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Sergeant  Dartt,  which  I  have  just  received 
through  Lieutenant  Gregg,  pains  me  exceedingly.  He  was  a  brave  and  faithful 
officer  and  will  be  much  missed  in  your  Commissary  Department. 

Please  remember  me  to  Lieutenant  Ackley  and  the  boys. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

(Signed)     JAMES    A.    BEAVER/' 

Captain  Hills  was  also  engaged  in  the  battles  of  South  Mountain,  Antietam 
and  Fredericksburg  subsequently,  and  of  many  others. 

He  was  commissioned  lieutenant  colonel  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania 
Volunteer  Infantry  by  Governor  Curtin,  March  1st,  1863;  went  with  the  regi- 


• 


I*  -I 


Lieut.  Col.  F.  M.  Hills 


Lieut.  Col.  F.  M.  Hills 


*% 


Charles  Heverly 


William  A.  Roberts 
1859 


Chaplain  Frederich  W.  Cast 


A  Chaplain's  Reminiscences  30 s 

ment  to  take  part  in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  commanded  the  regiment  Sn 
the  battles  of  Jackson,  Campbells  Station,  siege  of  Knoxville,  Blue  Springs, 
Wilderness,  Spottsylvania  and  Cold  Harbor. 

He  was  disabled  before  reaching  the  front  at  Petersburg  and  up  to  that 
time  was  in  every  battle  and  skirmish  in  which  the  regiment  was  engaged. 
He  resigned  about  September  15th,  1864,  on  account  of  disability,  and  returned 
to  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  being  engaged  in  buying  horses  for  the  government.  In 
1865  he  removed  to  Titusville,  and  in  1872  went  to  Kansas,  where  he  soon 
became  one  of  the  most  useful  and  prosperous  citizens  of  the  community  in 
which  he  resided.  Now  while  he  is  waiting  for  the  summons  to  the  last  roll 
call  he  can  lay  down  his  armor  with  the  consciousness  that  he  has  nobly  per 
formed  his  duty  both  as  a  citizen  and  a  soldier  of  this  Grand  Republic. 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  REMINISCENCES 

By  CHAPLAIN  FREDERICK  A.  CAST. 

When  I  was  asked  to  contribute  a  chapter  to  the  history  of  the  Forty-fifth 
Regiment  of  the  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  I  naturally  hesitated  for  a  while 
to  accede  to  the  unexpected  yet  flattering  request.  My  term  of  service  was 
brief.  At  the  time  I  entered  on  my  official  duties  the  .four  years'  Civil  War  was 
rapidly  nearing  its  close.  The  great  battles,  in  which  the  regiment  played  SO 
prominent  a  part,  and  by  its  gallantry  won  for  itself  such  imperishable  farrie, 
had,  with  a  single  exception,  all  been  fought  and  had  already  become  a  matter 
of  history.  I  had  no  share  in  the  glory.  I  was  not  even  an  eye  witness  of  the 
regiment's  most  brilliant  achievements.  What  light,  then,  could  I  cast  upon 
the  record  of  its  courage  and  bravery?  What  added  interest  could  I  lend  to 
the  story? 

And  yet,  when  I  reached  the  front,  the  future  still  held  in  reserve  one  very 
important,  because  decisive  battle,  which  resulted  in  the  retreat  of  the  enemy 
and  the  utter  collapse  of  the  doomed  Confederacy.  It  was  the  fight  before 
Petersburg,  April  2d,  1865 — the  last  in  which  the  Forty-fifth  was  actively  en 
gaged.  After  the  surrender  of  Lee,  just  one  week  later,  there  came  the  long 
wait  of  well  nigh  four  months  before  the  regiment  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service.  It  was  a  time  of  well  earned  rest,  after  the  severe  and  bloody  com 
bats  of  the  preceding  years — a  time  which,  marked  by  no  thrilling  military 
events,  filled  the  hearts  of  those  who  had  survived  the  perils  of  battle  and  dis 
ease  with  a  deep,  ardent,  often  impatient  longing  for  home  and  the  joys  of  a 
reunited  family.  It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  these  closing  months  of  the 
regiment's  career  furnished  its  chaplain  with  no  incidents  worthy  of  brief  men 
tion.  In  fact,  after  the  lapse  of  45  years,  many  reminiscences,  partly  pathetic, 
partly  humorous,  recur  to  his  mind;  it  seems  fitting,  therefore,  that  as  the 
last  and  only  surviving  chaplain  of  the  regiment,  he  should  give  expression  to 
some  of  these,  though  they  may  only  serve  to  throw  a  sidelight  on  life  in  a 
military  camp. 


306     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  Secession  my  father  had  five  sons  the 
youngest  of  whom  was  then  but  a  school  boy,  making  his  preparation  for  en 
trance  into  college,  the  remaining  four  entered  the  army  in  defence  of  the 
Union.  If  he  had  had  a  hundred  sons,  and  they  had  come  to  him  in  succes 
sion,  saying,  "Father,  with  your  free  consent,  I  wish  to  go  to  the  war  and  give 
my  best  service  to  my  imperiled  country/'  he  would  not  have  withheld  one 
of  them,  but  have  said  to  each :  "Go,  my  son ;  do  your  duty,  whatever  may 
befall."  And  I  verily  believe  that,  though  born  in  Germany,  and  brought  to 
America  when  ten  years  old,  he  would,  if  it  had  not  been  for  his  already  ad 
vanced  age,  have  shared  with  his  sons  the  privations  and  dangers  of  the  war, 
willing,  in  the  language  of  St.  Paul,  to  "endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ." 

About  the  close  of  the  year  1864,  or  the  beginning  of  the  next,  Dr. 
W.  Scott  Yundt,  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  came  home 
on  leave  of  absence.  The  family  residence  was  in  Blue  Ball,  about  three 
miles  east  of  New  Holland,  Lancaster  County,  where  I  was  then  pastor.  We 
met  on  several  occasions,  and  in  one  of  our  conversations  I  casually  mentioned 
my  unsuccessful  endeavors  to  enter  the  service  of  the  army  as  chaplain.  He 
then  informed  me  that  the  chaplain  of  the  Forty-fifth  had  resigned  in  January, 
1864,  and  that  during  the  entire  year  no  one  had  been  appointed  to  fill  the 
vacancy.  He  had  no  doubt,  he  said,  that  if  I  desired  the  position  it  could  easily 
be  secured  for  me. 

In  the  second  half  of  February  I  received,  quite  unexpectedly  and  much 
to  my  surprise,  an  official  communication  from  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  informing  me 
that  I  had  been  appointed  chaplain  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  of  Veteran 
Volunteers  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had  been  enrolled  February  17th.  The  ap 
pointment  coming  thus  unsolicited  on  my  part,  I  decided,  after  due  reflection, 
to  accept,  and  at  once  entered  on  such  business  as  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
be  attended  to  before  I  was  ready  to  join  the  regiment. 

At  length,  however,  everything  was  ready  and  on  Monday,  March  27th,  I 
set  out  for  Baltimore,  where  on  the  following  afternoon  I  took  the  boat  for 
City  Point,  the  base  of  supplies  and  operations  of  the  Civil  War.  To  me  the 
trip  down  the  Chesapeake  Bay  was  a  novel  experience.  To  enjoy  it  to  the 
full  I  kept  my  place  on  deck,  for  the  evening  was  mild  and  the  moon  shone 
bright  in  an  almost  cloudless  sky.  Yet  there  soon  stole  over  me  a  feeling  of 
loneliness.  The  boat  was  crowded  with  officers  and  men  on  the  way  to  their 
respective  camps.  They  were  talking,  laughing,  and  singing,  but  in  all  the 
noisy  throng  there  was  not  a  single  face  I  &ould  recognize,  nor  a  voice  that 
did  not  sound  strange.  I  realized  the  truth  of  what  has  often  been  remarked, 
that  one  never  feels  so  much  alone  as  when  in  a  crowd  of  unknown  people. 

But  while  the  first  half  of  the  night  was  calm  and  beautiful,  sometime  after 
midnight  there  arose  a  terrific  storm.  The  waves  were  lashed  into  fury,  dash 
ing  against  the  boat,  causing  it  to  rock  violently.  I  slept  quietly  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  storm,  but  when  I  awoke  towards  morning  I  felt  a  dreadful 
sensation  of  nausea.  I  could  hardly  lift  up  my  head.  It  was  a  mild  attack  of 
what  Mark  Twain  in  his  "Innocents  Abroad"  calls  the  "Oh  My's!"  I  have 
never  ceased  to  smile  at  the  recollection  of  my  first  thoughts  on  awakening,  "O, 


A  Chaplain's  Reminiscences  307 

how  can  I  eat  breakfast  with  this  recalcitrant  stomach?"  But  soon  after  land 
ing  at  City  Point  the  disagreeable  feeling  passed  away.  Whether  I  ate  any 
thing  I  cannot  remember,  but  I  know  that  I  took  the  first  train  for  the  nearest 
station  to  the  camp  of  the  Forty-fifth. 

On  nearing  the  station,  another,  but  less  ridiculous  question  presented  itself 
to  my  mind :  "How  can  I  ever  find  the  camp  of  the  Forty-fifth  among  the 
numberless  camps  extending  for  miles  over  the  homeless  and  treeless  hard- 
trodden  ground?"  I  knew  not  its  distance  nor  even  its  direction.  But  my  per 
plexity  was  soon  relieved,  when  on  leaving  the  train  and  making  known  my 
difficulty  to  a  knot  of  soldiers,  a  young  man  belonging  to  a  New  Hampshire  regi 
ment,  told  me  that  he  knew  where  the  camp  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  lay 
and  would  willingly  take  me  there,  as  he  was  well  acquainted  with  some  of  its 
members.  I  was  glad  to  have  him  for  my  guide,  for  he  was  an  entertaining,  as 
well  as  communicative  companion.  We  trudged  leisurely  along  until  we  reached 
the  rear  of  Fort  Sedgwick,  nicknamed  "Fort  Hell,"  when  I  heard  a  loud  whizzing 
noise  above  our  heads.  I  asked  my  young  friend  what  it  was.  He  said  that  it 
was  a  Whitworth  bolt  sent  by  the  Rebel  fort  in  front  of  Fort  Sedgwick,  which 
had  been  shelling  the  enemy  at  intervals  all  day,  and  that  this  was  the  first  re 
sponse.  That  was  my  initiation  into  army  life.  The  missile  fell  at  a  comfortable 
distance  behind  us  and  wrought  no  harm.  So  I  thought :  "Where  ignorance  is 
bliss,  'tis  folly  to  be  wise."  On  inquiring  of  my  pleasant  guide,  how  Fort  Sedg 
wick  got  its  name,  "Fort  Hell,"  he  said  that  a  Rebel  once  asked,  "What  do  you 
call  that  fort,"  and  was  told  "Fort  Sedgwick,"  to  which  he  replied:  "it  is  Tort 
Hell',  for  it's  playing  hell  with  us." 

Fort  Sedgwick  was  situated  at  a  distance  of  perhaps  half  a  mile  or  less  west 
of  Fort  Rice,  in  the  immediate  rear  of  which  the  Forty-fifth  was. encamped.  As 
we  approached  our  destination  I  naturally  felt  a  slight  trepidation  of  heart.  A 
new  and  untried  field  of  labor  lay  before  me.  There  was  but  one  individual  in 
the  regiment,  Surgeon  Yundt,  with  whom  I  had  any  acquaintance.  What  was 
the  character  of  the  men  with  whom  I  was  about  to  become  associated  more  or 
less  closely  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time?  Would  our  relations  be  harmonious 
and  pleasant?  In  such  circumstances  as  I  was  then  placed,  the  mind  is  always 
sure  to  feel  some  degree  of  uneasiness.  This  feeling,  however,  soon  passed  away. 
My  impressions  on  coming  into  contact  with  the  chief  officers  of  the  regiment 
were  very  favorable.  I  found  them  gentlemanly  in  their  bearing,  respectful  and 
courteous,  more  than  ordinarily  intelligent,  friendly  and  companionable.  And 
these  impressions  were  strengthened  as  I  gradually  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
other  officers.  It  was  different,  of  course,  in  the  ranks,  which  were  made  up  of 
men  of  different  nationalities  and  languages,  as  well  as  of  various  degrees  of  edu 
cation  and  breeding.  Some  came  of  families  of  high  respectability  and  culture ; 
others  belonged  to  the  lowest  stage  of  society.  Occasionally  you  would  meet  a 
college  graduate  serving  as  a  private  soldier,  but  oftener  you  would  come  across 
men  so  illiterate  that  they  could  neither  read  nor  write.  Yet  I  cannot  recall  a 
single  word  or  act  of  disrespect  to  which  I  was  at  any  time  subjected,  even  by 
the  most  ignorant  and  roughest  characters. 

It  was  Wednesday  afternoon,  March  29th,  when  I  arrived  at  camp  where 
Surgeon  Yundt  met  me;  and  as,  fortunately,  I  knew  him,  I  did  not  feel  like  an 
utter  stranger.  He  at  once  introduced  me  to  others,  and  so  the  circle  of  my 


308     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

acquaintances  growing  larger  day  by  day  I  soon  knew  the  names  of  most  of  the 
officers  who  were  with  the  regiment  at  that  time.  Others,  among  them  Colonel 
Gregg  and  Major  Trout,  with  a  large  number  of  privates,  were  then  prisoners  of 
war,  and  were  not  released  until  the  surrender  of  General  Lee. 

That  first  evening  in  camp  Major  (then  Captain)  Cheeseman  invited  me 
to  accompany  him  to  the  picket  line.  Perhaps,  in  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  he 
thought  in  this  way  to  make  me  feel  less  lonely  and  more  at  home  amid  my  novel 
and  strange  surroundings.  In  the  course  of  our  conversation  I  gained  a  true  in 
sight  into  his  noble  character,  the  correctness  of  which  was  confirmed  by  subse 
quent  events.  He  was  large  hearted,  tenderly  considerate,  and  as  modest  as  he 
was  brave.  He  was  not  one  of  those  boasters  who  were  ever  "spoiling  for  a 
fight,''  but  who,  when  the  battle  was  on,  preferred  a  safe  place  in  the  rear,  rather 
than  advance  on  the  foe.  He  was  not  ashamed  to  tell  me,  and  it  was  no  deroga 
tion  from  his  bravery,  that  he  never  went  into  battle  without  fear  and  trembling; 
for  he  never  came  out  without  being  more  or  less  severely  wounded.  There  was 
that  in  his  personality  that  attracted  me  strongly,  but  unhappily  our  intercourse 
lasted  only  a  few  days. 

Sick  call  was  regularly  held  in  the  morning  after  breakfast.  It  was  the  hour 
when  all  who  were  either  really  ill,  or  as  sometimes  happened,  only  pretended  to 
be,  with  a  view  to  escape  military  duty,  presented  themselves  before  the  surgeon 
and  stated  their  complaints.  He  inquired  carefully  into  each  case  and  prescribed 
the  course  to  be  pursued  by  the  patient,  sending  the  more  serious  cases  to  the  hos 
pital,  where  they  could  be  better  cared  for  than  in  camp.  Having  been  informed 
that  the  chaplain's  place  was  with  the  surgeon,  as  there  might  be  need  for  the 
services  of  both,  I  was  present  at  sick  call  for  the  first  time,  perhaps  on  Thurs 
day,  the  day  after  my  arrival,  but  more  probably  on  Friday.  Surgeon  Iddings 
was  in  charge,  Surgeon  Yundt  attending  to  the  hospital  cases.  Both  were  com 
petent  physicians,  and  both  came  from  Lancaster  County ;  Yundt  from  the  east 
ern  section,  Iddings  from  the  southern,  settled  by  Scotch-Irish,  Presbyterians  and 
Quakers.  It  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  the  most  intelligent  part  of  the  county. 
Iddings  and  I  were  most  closely  associated.  We  occupied  the  same  tent.  He 
was  of  Quaker  origin,  though  not  himself  a  Quaker,  and  sharing,  as  he  did,  much 
of  the  culture  and  refinement  of  that  peaceful  people,  I  found  him  an  agreeable 
and  estimable  companion.  He  with  his  associate,  Yundt,  have  both  passed  into 
the  Great  Beyond. 

Sick  call  afforded  an  excellent  opportunity  to  witness  a  display  of  human 
nature.  There  both  the  good  and  the  bad  side  of  man  were  often  strikingly  re 
vealed.  A  few  occurrences  before  and  during  the  last  fight  at  Petersburg  may  be 
of  interest  to  the  reader.  It  should  be  premised,  however,  that  the  picket  lines 
were  then  in  close  proximity;  and  from  the  time  it  became  dusk  the  enemy  began 
and  kept  up  throughout  the  night  a  constant  firing  to  prevent  the  frequent  deser 
tions  to  the  Union  lines.  Besides,  there  was  a  wide-spread  expectation  that  a 
general  assault  was  about  to  be  made  along  the  entire  line  of  the  enemy. 

Now  there  are  always  in  an  army  some  men  utterly  lacking  in  physical  cour 
age.  An  impending  battle  fills  them  with  uncontrollable  fear  so  that  there  is 
hardly  anything  they  will  not  do  to  escape  the  stern  necessity  of  confronting  the 
enemy's  guns.  At  my  first  attendance  on  sick  call  with  Surgeon  Iddings,  a  pri- 


A  Chaplain's  Reminiscences  309 

vate  of  this  sort  presented  himself.  "Well,  my  friend,"  said  the  doctor,  "What 
is  the  matter  with  you?"  Extending  his  left  hand  he  showed  the  fore-finger 
minus  the  first  joint.  "Well,  how  did  this  happen?"  he  was  asked.  "Well,  doctor, 
I'll  tell  you  exactly  how  it  was.  You  see  I  was  on  picket  duty  last  night,  and 
as  I  am  suffering  with  a  bad  diarrhoea  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  rear,  and  while 
I  was  doing  no  harm  to  anybody,  a  Rebel  minie  ball  came  whizzing  along  and 
shot  off  the  tip  of  my  finger."  "Yes,  but  I  see  your  hand  is  blackened  with  pow 
der;  how  do  you  account  for  that?"  "Well,  don't  you  think  the  Rebels  use  pow 
der  as  well  as  our  men.  It  was  the  minie  ball  did  it."  "Not  a  Rebel  ball  sent 
from  that  distance,"  said  the  doctor,  "you  inflicted  the  wound  yourself."  And 
so  he  was  sent  back  to  his  tent  to  suffer  the  consequences  of  his  cowardice  and 
folly. 

On  Sunday  morning,  while  the  Battle  of  Petersburg  was  raging,  the  sergeant 
brought  from  the  front  a  typical  Irishman.  His  was  a  truly  laughable  case,  and 
notwithstanding  the  bloody  scenes  that  were  being  acted  so  near  us,  it  was  im 
possible  to  restrain  at  least  a  smile.  To  the  surgeon's  question :  "Well,  what  ails 
you?"  he  replied:  "Och,  docther,  Oi'm  so  sick."  "What  is  your  complaint?" 
"Oi  have  the  diarrhoea  so  bad ;  Oi  can  hardly  shtand  it."  Seeing  that  he  was  only 
"playing  off"  and  that  there  was  nothing  really  the  matter  with  him  but  his  dread 
of  Rebel  bullets,  the  doctor  went  on  asking  him  as  to  various  other  diseases  he 
might  possibly  have.  "Have  you  not  the  rheumatism  too?"  "The  rheumatism, 
you  say?  Begorrah  its  so  bad  Oi  can  hardly  kape  on  my  legs."  "And  how  is 
your  hearing?"  "Hearing  is  it?  Oi  can  hardly  hear  the  noise  of  a  musket  shot." 
"And  haven't  you  a  bad  breath?"  "Och,  Bejabers,  they  can't  come  within  a  yard 
of  me."  And  so  on,  until  it  seemed  to  me  the  doctor  had  well-nigh  named  all 
"the  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to."  And  lo !  the  Irishman  had  them  all,  and  in  the 
most  aggravated  form.  As  the  result  of  his  diagnosis  Dr.  Iddings  said:  "Ser 
geant,  take  this  fellow  to  the  front,  that  the  Rebels  may  shoot  him  dead  and  so 
put  him  out  of  his  intolerable  misery."  He  went  away  muttering  to  himself,  and 
his  mutterings  were  doubtless  curses  on  the  hard-hearted  surgeon. 

The  cases  I  have  just  mentioned  were  of  course  very  exceptional.  It  must 
not  be  supposed  that  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  army  were  generally  of  such  a 
cowardly  type.  Indeed  not  infrequently  one  would  meet  a  case  that  exalted  one's 
opinion  of  human  nature.  That  same  morning,  a  little  later,  a  German  came  up, 
who  in  reply  to  the  surgeon  said  he  was  very  sick.  That  fact  was  at  once  evident 
to  the  physician's  eye.  "I  see  you  are.  But  this  is  a  very  important  battle.  A 
decisive  victory  now  will  probably  end  the  war.  Every  soldier  then  who  is 
fit  for  any  duty  at  all  must  be  at  his  post.  But  I  am  not  going  to  order  you  to  be 
taken  there.  I  shall  let  you  decide  the  question  for  yourself.  If  you  conscien 
tiously  think  you  are  too  ill  to  take  part  in  the  battle  this  day  you  may  go  quietly 
to  your  tent  and  I  will  attend  to  your  case ;  but  if  you  think  you  can  be  of  any 
service  at  the  front,  then  go  and  take  your  place  in  your  company."  "Veil,  den, 
doctor,  I  dinks  I  go."  And  like  a  true  hero  he  went  facing  death. 

The  fight,  the  last  in  which  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment  participated  began  along 
the  lines  of  the  Ninth  Corps  on  Saturday,  April  1st.  If  my  memory  serves  me 
right,  it  was  about  an  hour  or  two  before  midnight.  At  all  events  Surgeon 
Iddings  and  I  had  retired  and  were  asleep.  Unknown  to  us,  Major  Cheeseman 
had  been  called  to  a  council  of  war,  and  on  his  return,  he  came  to  our  tent  to 


310     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

tell  us  that  he  was  about  to  lead  out  the  regiment  to  battle ;  but  finding  us  asleep 
he,  in  his  kindness,  concluded,  as  he  afterwards  informed  me,  not  to  wake  us, 
knowing  that  we  would  be  roused  soon  enough  from  our  slumbers.  And  we  were. 
The  awful  roar  of  artillery  along  the  whole  line  for  miles  was  enough  to  wake 
the  dead.  Of  course,  we  rose,  hastily  dressed  and  going  out  of  our  tent,  stood 
under  the  open  sky  where  for  hours  we  watched  the  shelling — a  beautiful  sight, 
if  you  can  detach  it  in  thought  from  the  terrible  destruction  it  works,  and  is  in 
tended  to  work.  We  were  a  small,  but  intensely  anxious  group  of  nocturnal 
watchers,  comprising  the  commissioned  and  non-commissioned  officers,  stationed 
at  the  regimental  headquarters — Surgeons  Yundt  and  Iddings,  Adjutant  Dickin 
son,  Quartermaster  Phaler,  and  Commissary  Sergeant  Roth — and  of  that  group 
the  only  survivor  of  that  night  of  storm  and  stress  beside  myself  is  Adjutant 
Dickinson,  who  in  his  old  age,  I  doubt  not,  still  preserves  his  native  dignity  and 
gracious  smile. 

The  battle  continued  the  remainder  of  the  night  and  with  an  occasional  lull, 
throughout  the  next  day,  Sunday,  until  toward  evening  the  firing  gradually  slack 
ened  and  finally  ceased.  It  is  no  part  of  my  task  to  describe  the  progress  of  the 
fight  and  the  splendid  gallantry  of  the  Forty-fifth.  That  must  be  left  to  others 
who  were  competent  eye  witnesses  of  the  events.  The  chaplain  is  a  non-com 
batant.  His  place  is  not  on  the  battlefield,  but  at  the  regimental  headquarters  or 
in  the  hospital.  There  is  a  partial  exception  in  the  case  of  Catholic  chaplains, 
some  of  whom  are  needed  on  the  field  to  administer  the  sacrament  of  Extreme 
Unction  to  those  dying  in  the  Catholic  faith. 

One  scene,  however,  my  eyes  beheld  which  impressed  me  with  deep  sadness. 
At  a  time  when  the  Union  lines  were  being  driven  back  and  were  in  great  need  of 
support,  a  train  from  City  Point  brought  several  regiments  of  fresh  troops,  who, 
forming  their  lines  in  the  rear  of  Fort  Rice  and  hastily  entering  the  field  of  battle, 
rushed  forward  to  the  front  to  be  received  by  the  deadly  fire  of  the  foe.  With 
a  sinking  of  heart  I  thought  within  myself :  "how  many  of  those  brave  men,  now 
so  full  of  life  and  vigor,  will,  before  the  rising  of  another  sun,  experience  the 
agonies  of  death,  or  at  least  the  sufferings  of  severe  wounds !" 

Later  in  the  day  I  received  my  first  call  as  chaplain  to  a  painful  duty.  Early 
in  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  April  the  Forty-fifth  was  moved  from  Fort  Rice  to 
the  left  of  the  brigade  in  front  of  Fort  Sedgwick ;  and  later  Major  Cheeseman, 
while  leading  the  regiment  in  a  bold  attack  on  the  Confederate  Fort  Mahone  in 
the  face  of  canister  and  grape  shot,  was  severely  wounded  in  his  right  knee  and 
taken  from  the  field  to  the  hospital,  from  which  he  sent  me  a  message  requesting 
that  I  should  come  to  him  as  soon  as  possible.  Fearing  he  was  dying,  I  set  off 
at  once,  and  by  rapid  strides  soon  reached  the  hospital.  He  met  me  with  a  friend 
ly  smile.  He  told  me  briefly  and  modestly  how  he  had  been  wounded.  There 
was  not  a  murmuring  word  over  his  misfortune ;  not  even  a  moan  of  pain.  He 
seemed  to  have  no  thought  of  himself;  his  only  consideration  was  for  his  dear 
wife,  that  she  might  not  be  unnecessarily  distressed.  In  his  anxiety  he  begged 
me  to  write  to  her  immediately,  breaking  the  news  gently,  anticipating  if  possible 
the  reports  of  the  papers,  lest  she  might  believe  he  had  been  killed.  I  promised  to 
comply  with  his  request.  Comforting  him  with  cheering  words  as  best  I  could, 
I  returned  to  camp  and  at  once  wrote  my  letter.  It  was  a  letter  that  would  bring 


A  Chaplain's  Reminiscences  311 

both  sorrow  and  joy;  sorrow,  because  her  husband  had  been  wounded;  and  joy, 
because  the  wound  would  not  prove  mortal. 

I  often  wondered,  especially  on  the  recurring  anniversaries  of  the  bloody, 
but  victorious  battle  in  front  of  Petersburg,  April  2d,  whether  that  letter  had 
reached  its  destination  and  accomplished  its  purpose.  Not  until  nearly  45  years 
had  elapsed  did  I  ascertain  the  truth.  In  a  letter  written  to  me  by  Major  Cheese- 
man,  November  23d,  1909, — the  first  I  had  received  from  him  since  we  parted 
long,  long  ago,  never  to  meet  again  on  earth — he  says :  "My  wife  and  I  have 
often  thought  of  your  kindness  when  you  wrote  to  her  apprising  her  of  my  severe 
injury.  She  will  never  forget  your  kindness  to  me  at  that  time,  and  requests  me 
to  tender  you  her  kindest  wishes  for  yourself.  Your  name  will  ever  be  fondly 
mentioned  in  our  home."  It  was  a  very  trifling  service,  which  it  was  my  duty 
as  chaplain  to  render,  and  which  most  persons,  after  the  lapse  of  well-nigh  50 
years,  would  probably  have  forgotten,  and  I  quote  his  words  only  to  show  how 
to  his  kindly,  generous  soul,  the  insignificant  fact  of  writing  that  letter  was  mag 
nified  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  merits  of  the  deed. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  3d  the  advance  skirmishers  discovered  and  re 
ported  that  the  enemy  had  evacuated  his  works  during  the  night,  and  that  Gen 
eral  Lee  had  fled  with  the  remnant  of  his  disheartened  troops.  These  glad  tid 
ings  strengthened  the  belief  and  encouraged  the  hope,  that  the  end  of  the  ter 
rible  four-years  Civil  War  was  near  at  hand.  The  victors  were  soon  in  full  pur 
suit  of  the  foe,  with  the  Ninth  Corps,  to  which  the  Forty-fifth  belonged,  in  the 
rear,  as  it  was  stationed  at  the  extreme  right  of  the  Union  lines.  We  were  de 
layed  at  the  entrance  to  Petersburg,  and  as  I  rightly  judged,  the  delay  would  be 
of  considerable  duration,  I  concluded  to  embrace  the  opportunity  for  visiting  the 
hospital  and  seeing  how  our  brave  but  unfortunate  major  was  progressing. 

I  had  not  proceeded  far  on  my  way,  when  I  heard  a  tremendous  hurrahing 
by  the  multitude  of  soldiers  on  the  road  to  Petersburg,  and  on  looking  ahead,  I 
saw  two  men  approaching  on  horseback.  It  was  evidently  they  in  whose  honor 
these  joyous  acclamations  rent  the  air,  and  my  curiosity  being  excited,  I  found 
on  inquiring  that  it  was  Lincoln  and  his  son.  When  they  passed  by  they  were 
only  several  yards  away  from  me,  and  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  thankful  for 
the  privilege  of  gazing  upon  the  face  of  that  noble  martyr  of  immortal  fame, 
especially  as  only  11  days  later  he  was  stricken  down  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin 
who  will  be  an  object  of  loathing  and  abhorrence  to  the  end  of  time.  Here  he 
was,  entering  unattended  yet  fearless,  a  city  of  the  enemy,  which  only  a  few  hours 
before  had  been  abandoned  by  a  defeated  and  desperate  army.  After  a  brief 
pause  I  resumed  my  walk  to  the  hospital,  where  I  was  glad  to  find  the  major 
awake  and  as  comfortable  as  possible  in  such  circumstances.  During  the  night 
his  leg  had  been  amputated.  He  said  that  in  the  morning,  when  he  had  regained 
consciousness,  he  felt  for  his  wounded  leg  where  it  ought  to  be,  and  it  was  not 
there.  Then  he  first  realized  the  extent  of  his  misfortune.  Commending  him  to 
the  Heavenly  Father,  who  is  too  wise  to  err  and  too  good  to  be  unkind,  I  bade 
him  adieu  in  a  few  cheering  words,  expressing  the  hope  that  his  wound  would 
soon  heal.  And,  indeed,  being  a  man  of  good  habits,  he  rapidly  recovered,  nor 
was  it  many  weeks  before  he  rode  into  camp  amid  the  loud  cheers  both  of  offi 
cers  and  privates. 


312     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

While  yet  at  the  hospital,  announcement  was  made  that  the  battle  had  re 
sulted  in  a  glorious  victory  to  the  Union  arms,  and  that  Lee,  having  abandoned 
his  fortifications  in  the  night,  was  in  full  flight  with  his  shattered  army.  It  was 
the  harbinger  of  the  complete  collapse  of  the  Confederate  government  and  the 
promise  of  the  near  advent  of  the  much  longed  for  peace.  The  effect  of  the  news 
on  the  unfortunate  patients  was  something  marvelous.  The  scene  presented  was 
one  never  to  be  forgotten.  All  who  had  retained  sufficient  consciousness  to 
comprehend  the  situation — some  of  them  mortally  wounded  and  others  already 
in  the  first  agonies  of  death — aroused  themselves  to  murmur,  however  faintly, 
almost  with  their  last  breath  a  "Praise  God."  It  was  a  glorious  Te  deum  laudamus, 
the  utterance  of  patriotic  hearts,  glad  to  know  in  their  last  hour  on  earth  of  the 
triumph  of  the  cause  to  which  they  had  sacrificed  their  lives.  To  me  no  Te  Deum, 
though  sung  in  the  grandest  cathedral,  by  the  most  skilled  of  choirs,  could  be 
more  impressive  than  the  simple,  quiet  utterance  from  those  dying  lips,  a  "Thank 
God." 

Passing  out  I  beheld  a  scene  of  a  widely  different  character :  a  soldier 
stretched  out  upon  an  operating  board,  one  surgeon  administering  the  ether,  an 
other  working  about  the  bloody,  wide-gaping  wound;  the  patient,  meanwhile  (un 
consciously,  of  course),  uttering  the  most  horrible,  blood-curdling  oaths.  Turn 
ing  aside  from  these  dreadful  sights  and  sounds,  my  eyes  beheld  in  a  corner  a 
miscellaneous  heap  of  various  amputated  members  of  the  human  body,  carelessly 
cast  aside.  The  whole  scene  was  the  most  gruesome  I  had  ever  beheld.  I  could 
not  help  inwardly  exclaiming :  "O,  the  horrors  of  war ;  especially  of  civil  war !" 

With  a  feeling  of  relief  I  turned  away  and  hastened  to  the  regiment  to  begin 
my  first  march,  which  was  made  in  two  stages  with  an  interval  of  some  days  dur 
ing  which  we  were  encamped  at  Burkville.  We  advanced,  however,  only  as  far  as 
Farmville,  which  lay,  I  believe,  at  a  distance  of  about  12  miles  from  Appomattox 
Court  House,  where  the  surrender  of  General  Lee  took  place  April  9th.  Just  out 
side  of  Farmville  there  stood  on  elevated  ground  a  fine  mansion,  which  gave  evi 
dence  of  having  been  the  abode  of  wealth,  refinement  and  culture  before  the  war. 
At  the  time  of  our  arrival  it  was  unoccupied  by  any  members  of  the  family.  The 
master,  Mr.  Richardson,  a  true  Southern  gentleman,  was,  with  his  brother,  as  we 
learned,  in  the  Confederate  army ;  his  sister  was  married  and  lived  in  Richmond ; 
only  the  colored  servants  remained  behind.  Naturally  the  staff  officers,  with  some 
of  the  captains  and  lieutenants,  took  possession  of  it  and  made  it  their  head 
quarters. 

There,  from  the  porch  of  that  mansion  as  my  pulpit,  I  preached  to  the  regi 
ment  for  the  first  time.  It  was  Easter  Sunday,  April  16th,  before  sunset. 

The  day  before  the  Battle  of  Petersburg,  a  private  soldier  came  to  me,  hold 
ing  in  his  hand  a  small  package  nicely  wrapped  up  and  carefully  secured,  with  the 
address  to  which  it  was  to  be  sent  plainly  written.  It  would  seem  that  he  had  a 
vague,  uncomfortable  feeling  of  his  impending  death  in  the  coming  fight.  He  re 
quested  me  to  take  charge  of  it  and  in  case  he  should  fall,  send  it  according  to 
the  directions  given;  but  if  his  life  should  be  spared,  he  would  see  me  again  as 
soon  as  he  could  after  the  return  to  camp  and  reclaim  his  package.  I  told  him  I 
regarded  his  wish  as  a  sacred  duty  and  would  faithfully  comply  with  His  request. 
Our  lives  are  in  the  hands  of  an  infinitely  wise  Father,  and  without  His  will  not 
a.  hair  of  our  heads  can  fall.  I  sincerely  hoped  he  would  come  out  of  the  battle 


A  Chaplain's  Reminiscences  313 

alive,  and  be  spared  to  his  family  to  share  with  them  many  happy  years.  And 
he  did ;  and  I  soon  had  the  pleasure  of  returning  to  him  what,  in  a  solemn  hour, 
he  had  entrusted  to  my  care.  I  know  not  what  it  contained;  it  may  have  had 
little  intrinsic  value;  it  may  have  been  only  a  lock  of  his  hair;  but  how  the  widow 
and  her  fatherless  children  would  prize  that  memento  as  an  inestimable  treasure, 
reminding  them,  how  in  his  last  hours  on  earth  his  thoughts  were  fixed  on  them 
and  his  love  was  faithful  unto  death. 

After  supper  Captain  Lord  (who,  as  ranking  captain,  was  in  command  after 
Captain  Cheeseman  was  disabled),  and  myself  concluded  to  walk  into  the  town. 
We  had  gone  but  a  short  distance  of  perhaps  100  or  200  yards,  when  we  saw  sol 
diers  in  crowds  rushing  towards  us  in  the  wildest  excitement.  The  assassination 
of  President  Lincoln,  on  Good  Friday  night,  April  14th,  had  just  been  made 
known.  The  effect  of  that  announcement  was  something  appalling.  He  was  at 
that  time  the  idol  of  his  country  and  of  the  army ;  and  it  was  not  an  easy  task  to 
restrain  the  men  in  their  mad  frenzy,  as  with  stern  faces  and  set  teeth  they 
rushed  on,  threatening  to  kill  every  Rebel,  burn  down  their  houses  and  barns,  and 
create  wide-spread  havoc  and  devastation.  From  all  the  surrounding  country  men 
came  to  headquarters  in  great  alarm,  humbly  begging  for  a  safeguard  to  protect 
their  lives  and  property.  It  was  a  pitiful  sight  to  behold  aged,  gray-headed 
fathers,  telling  in  deep  distress,  with  big  tears  rolling  down  their  cheeks,  how 
they  had  learned  too  late  the  true  character  of  Lincoln,  who  they  could  now  see, 
was  the  sincere  friend  of  the  South.  Of  course,  safeguards  were  given,  and  on 
calm  reflection,  the  furious  passion  of  the  Union  soldiers  soon  subsided. 

It  was  at  this  time,  when  we  were  encamped  at  Farmville  that  Colonel  Gregg 
and  Major  Trout  returned  to  the  regiment  after  having  spent  many  months  in 
the  South  as  prisoners  of  war.  They  were  received  with  hearty  greetings  and 
shouts  of  joy.  The  colonel  was  a  man  of  fine  military  bearing,  strict  in  disci 
pline,  but  not  harsh  in  enforcing  it.  Indeed,  his  heart  was  as  tender  as  a  wom 
an's  and  his  feelings  easily  moved.  He  was  very  popular  with  the  men  under  his 
command.  They  admired  his  undaunted  courage  which  they  had  witnessed  in 
many  a  hard-fought  battle.  Of  a  genial,  social  disposition,  full  of  kindly  humor, 
he  gathered  around  him  a  circle  of  delighted  friends.  He  was  not  without  faults, 
but  in  my  close  intercourse  with  him,  I  learned  not  only  to  admire  him  as  a  sol 
dier,  but  also  to  love  him  as  a  true-hearted  man.  He  died  in  Washington,  July  4, 
1878.  The  major,  too,  like  his  superior  officer,  Gregg,  was  and  deserved  to  be,  a 
favorite  with  the  regiment.  As  he  still  survives,  I  trust  that,  in  spite  of  the  bur 
dens  and  sorrows  of  life,  he  still  retains  something  of  the  old  time  merriment  and 
love  of  innocent  fun  he  so  often  displayed  amid  the  darkness  and  gloom  of  the 
Civil  War. 

About  the  same  time  Mr.  Richardson  returned  from  the  Confederate  Army 
to  his  home.  He  was  the  owner  of  the  large  plantation  on  which  stood  the  fine 
mansion  occupied  as  regimental  headquarters  during  our  stay  at  Farmville.  I 
could  only  pity  him  as  I  tried  to  imagine  his  feelings  on  again  entering  his  de 
serted  home ;  the  bitterness'  and  depression  of  mind  with  which  he  realized  the 
utter  destruction  of  the  bright  hopes  that  animated  his  southern  heart  as  he  went 
out  from  its  halls  to  the  war;  the  sadness  of  soul  when  he  remembered  them  as 
the  scene  of  many  happy  social  gatherings  of  dear  friends,  some  of  whom  were 
now  sleeping  in  a  soldier's  grave ;  the  inward  rage  with  which  he  saw  their  dese- 


314     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

cration  by  the  footsteps  of  the  once  despised,  but  now  victorious  Yankees.  But 
if  such  were  his  real  feelings  he  made  no  open  display  of  them.  The  war  was 
practically  ended,  and  he  had  the  good  sense  not  to  seclude  himself  and  mope  in 
solitude,  nor  yet  in  sullenness  to  hold  himself  aloof  from  the  officers  of  the  regi 
ment.  Never  of  a  merry  spirit,  he  was  always  courteous  in  manner.  He  was  a 
skilled  chess  player,  as  was  also  Colonel  Gregg.  They  sometimes  played  for  their 
amusement  far  into  the  night,  while  others  followed  with  interest  the  progress  of 
the  game.  And  while  this  was  going  on  in  one  room  there  was  often  music  in 
another.  We  found  in  the  mansion  an  excellent  piano  in  good  condition,  and  as 
there  were  a  number  of  fine  voices  in  the  regiment,  they  sang  at  times  well  known 
hymns  and  patriotic  songs,  accompanied  on  the  piano  by  the  chaplain. 

During  my  term  of  service  I  was  never  consciously  in  danger,  except  on  one 
occasion.  It  was  necessary  for  me  to  go  from  Farmville  to  Burkeville,  a  distance 
of  about  13  miles,  to  be  mustered  into  the  service.  When  I  first  joined  the  regi 
ment,  and  while  we  were  yet  at  Petersburg,  I  had  gone  for  that  purpose  several 
times  to  division  headquarters,  but  always  found  the  proper  officer  absent  for  one 
reason  or  another.  No  other  opportunity  presented  itself  until  we  were  encamped 
at  Farmville.  Then  one  bright  morning  I  set  out  on  my  journey  on  horseback 
alone,  never  doubting  I  could  find  my  way  without  a  guide.  Unfortunately,  how 
ever,  after  traveling  a  considerable  distance,  I  saw  that  I  had  lost  the  direct  way 
and  was  on  a  corduroy  road  to  the  right.  Retracing  my  steps  to  the  broad,  beaten 
track,  I  rode  on  for  a  number  of  miles,  when  to  my  surprise  I  discovered  that 
I  had  again  gone  astray.  But,  reflecting  that  the  road  I  had  entered  by  mistake 
must  lead  to  Burkeville,  I  concluded  to  go  straight  forward.  As  I  was  riding 
along  in  a  quiet  way,  never  dreaming  of  danger  ahead,  I  saw  a  number  of  men 
with  guns  in  their  hands  about  to  enter  a  wood  at  a  distance  of  a  quarter  or, 
perhaps,  a  third  of  a  mile  to  my  right.  The  war  was  virtually  closed  and  Lee's 
army  disbanded,  but  small  guerilla  parties  continued  to  roam  about  and  keep  up 
an  irregular  warfare.  They  were  desperate  men,  maddened  by  the  irretrievable 
ruin  of  the  cause  for  which  they  had  sacrificed  their  all.  Had  I  encountered  them 
on  the  road,  or  had  they  noticed  me  before  their  entry  into  the  wood,  they  would 
have  thought  I  was  one  of  the  "accursed  Yankees,"  and  as  I  was  in  citizen's  dress 
with  only  a  military  cap,  they  would  have  recognized  me  at  once  as  a  chaplain, 
and  suspected  that  I  carried  money  about  my  person — which  was  indeed  a  fact, 
for  I  had  a  considerable  sum  hidden  in  a  belt  around  my  waist.  It  might  in  that 
case  have  gone  ill  with  me.  I  thanked  God  for  my  escape  and  hastened  on  my  way. 
When  yet  about  three  or  four  miles  distant  from  Burkeville,  I  met  some  Union 
officers  with  field  glasses,  reconnoitering  the  country  for  scattered  hostile  bands, 
and  from  that  time  onward  to  the  end  of  my  journey  I  felt  a  pleasant  sense  of 
security.  There  I  sought  and  found,  James  A.  Myers,  hospital  steward  of  the 
Forty-fifth.  In  the  course  of  our  conversation,  I  told  him  of  my  adventure  and 
he  informed  me  that,  coming  alone,  I  had  been  in  great  peril,  for  the  country  was 
overrun  by  guerilla  bands.  He  entertained  me  that  night  and  I  shall  always  cher 
ish  pleasant  recollections  of  his  kindness  on  the  occasion  of  my  visit  to  Burkeville, 
as  well  as  on  some  other  occasions.  The  next  day,  after  a  refreshing  sleep,  I  set 
out  on  my  return  to  Farmville,  which  strange  to  say,  unlike  my  journey  the  day 
before,  was  made  without  a  single  incident  impressed  on  my  memory. 


A  Chaplain's  Reminiscences  315 

One  event  worthy  of  mention  occurred  during  our  short  stay  at  Farmville. 
There  was  a  grand  wedding  at  which  the  chaplain  had  the  high  honor  of  officiat 
ing.  Mr.  Richardson  had  just  returned  when  a  colored  gentleman,  looking  some 
what  serious,  approached  me  and  said:  "Mr.  Chaplain,  will  you  marry  me?"  On 
inquiring  who  he  was,  he  informed  me  that  he  was  a  servant  on  a  neighboring 
plantation.  "And  who,"  I  asked,  "is  to  be  the  happy  bride?"  He  answered: 
"One  of  Mr.  Richardson's  colored  servants."  "Well,"  I  said,  "Mr.  Richardson 
is  now  home,  and  I  will  ask  him  whether  there  is  any  reason  why  you  should  not 
be  married.  If  he  says  there  is  not,  I  will  marry  you  with  pleasure."  In  an  in 
terview  with  Mr.  Richardson  I  stated  the  case  to  him.  He  said :  "Marry  them, 
of  course.  There  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be  married,  or  rather,  there 
is  a  great  reason  why  they  should  be."  And  then,  exposing  one  of  the  terrible 
evils  connected  with  slavery,  he  added :  "they  should  have  been  married  years  ago, 
for  they  already  have  several  children." 

After  reporting  to  the  groom  the  glad  result  of  my  conference  with  Mr. 
Richardson,  we  arranged  for  the  time  and  place  of  the  marriage  ceremony.  No 
invitations  had  been  extended  to  members  of  the  regiment,  nor  cards  issued  for  a 
grand  reception  after  the  nuptial  knot  was  tied.  But  such  a  splendid  occasion 
could  not  be  kept  secret.  Many  of  the  officers  insisted  on  being  present.  'Some 
even  avowed  that  the  chaplain  must  conform  to  ancient  custom  and  kiss  the  bride. 
Indeed,  I  trembled  to  undertake  my  part,  usually  so  pleasant,  on  that  special  oc 
casion,  lest  from  my  sense  of  humor  I  should  ignominously  break  down  in  the 
midst  of  the  service.  They  came  and  took  their  places  in  the  rear.  I  stood  a 
little  in  advance  with  my  back  toward  them,  that  I  might  not  see  the  faces  of 
those  mischievous  boys.  Then  the  door  opened  and  in  came  two  couples,  but  un 
fortunately  they  knew  not  in  what  order  to  arrange  themselves.  To  my  right 
stood,  first,  the  bride,  then  the  groom,  to  my  left,  the  bridesmaid  and  lastly,  the 
bridegroom.  I  was  puzzled,  not  knowing  which  was  the  bridal  pair,  and  which 
their  attendants.  "Are  both  couples  to  be  married?"  I  was  compelled  to  ask) 
"No,"  was  the  answer,  coming  from  the  couple  at  my  left,  who  pointed  to  the 
couple  at  my  right,  "Jist  dem  two."  I  could  not  see  behind  me,  but  I  could  hear 
a  slight  titter.  It  was  a  bad  beginning  of  a  solemn  ceremony.  And  there  stood 
the  bridal  pair,  a  sight  to  behold.  The  groom  was  arrayed  in  the  uniform  of  a 
Union  soldier,  and  was  awfully  conscious  of  his  dignity  and  grandeur.  The  bride 
appeared  in  an  old,  ill-fitting,  but  once  rich  dress,  probably  a  cast-off  dress  of  a 
former  mistress.  One  could  hardly  refrain  from  smiling.  In  the  circumstances  it 
was  necessary  to  make  the  service  as  short  as  possible,  and  no  sooner  was  the 
service  ended  and  the  "amen"  pronounced,  than  the  colored  lady  friends  of  the 
bride  threw  themselves  upon  her,  half  a  dozen  at  a  time,  hugging  her  and  almost 
weighing  her  down  to  the  floor;  and  so,  the  unfortunate  chaplain,  whatever  his 
desire,  and  very  much  to  the  regret  of  the  white  guests,  lost  his  opportunity  for 
kissing  the  bride. 

The  regiment  had  been  but  a  brief  time  at  Farmville,  when  it  was  ordered 
to  march  to  City  Point  and  there  take  the  boat  to  Alexandria,  near  which  it  lay 
encamped  till  mustered  out  of  the  service.  The  four-years'  war  was  ended ;  peace 
had  been  won,  though  at  a  terrible  sacrifice ;  the  return  homeward  was  begun." 
Life  at  Alexandria  became  very  monotonous ;  only  the  routine  duties  of  camp  life 
were  performed.  Occasionally  the  tedium  was  broken  by  a  horseback  ride  td 


316     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Mount  Vernon,  the  residence  and  place  of  burial  of  George  Washington,  or  by  a 
boat  ride  to  the  city  of  Washington  to  visit  an  old  college  chum,  General  B.  F. 
Fisher,  then  at  the  head  of  the  Signal  Corps  Service.  There  were  no  longer  such 
thrilling  events  as  when  the  regiment  faced  the  enemy.  But  before  the  Union 
Army  was  finally  disbanded,  a  glorious  spectacle  was  presented  to  the  gaze  of 
the  rejoicing  nation — a  spectacle  unsurpassed,  unless  by  an  ancient  Roman 
Triumph  in  honor  of  a  victorious  general,  yet  without  its  gorgeous  pomp,  its  con 
quering  hero  crowned  with  a  wreath  of  laurel,  its  display  of  the  spoils  of  war, 
and  its  captive  kings  and  princes  bound  with  chains.  In  this  American  Triumph, 
if  such  it  may  be  called,  there  was  not  a  single  feature  designed  to  humiliate  a 
conquered,  yet  honorable  foe. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  inform  the  reader  that  this  last  crowning  event  of  the 
War  of  Secession  was  the  Grand  Review  of  the  Union  Army  in  Washington,  May 
23d  and  24th,  1865.  The  Eastern  troops  were  reviewed  on  the  first  day,  the  West 
ern,  the  day  following.  It  is  not  easy  to  form  even  a  faint  conception  of  the  vast 
multitude  of  officers  and  men  in  line  on  that  memorable  occasion.  In  those  two 
days  more  than  250,000  veteran  soldiers  passed  the  reviewing  stand,  marching 
company  front,  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  the  broadest  in  the  city  of  Washington, 
from  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  about  five  o'clock  in  the  aifternoon. 
What  a  magnificent  pageant  was  presented  to  the  world  by  those  brave  heroes,' 
who  had  gone  through  many  of  the  bloodiest  battles  recorded  in  history  and 
brought  out  of  the  civil  conflict  the  most  glorious  victory  for  the  Union!  As 
they  moved  on  in  one  solid  column  amid  the  tremendous  applause  of  a  grateful 
and  admiring  people,  and  bore  aloft  their  bullet-riddled  flags,  often  rent  into  mere 
shreds,  many  a  spectator  felt  constrained  to  stand,  bare-headed,  in  solemn  rever 
ence  before  the  emblem  of  the  nation  and  its  gallant  defenders. 

I  speak  as  an  outside,  but  deeply  interested  observer;  for  indeed,  I  was  not 
with  my  regiment  in  the  grand  review.  Having  been  quite  unwell  for  several 
days,  I  requested  Colonel  Gregg,  as  a  great  favor,  to  relieve  me  from  the  special 
duty  of  the  day  which  in  his  kindness  he  readily  did.  And  so  I  enjoyed  the 
inestimable  privilege  of  beholding  the  entire  grand  display,  so  inspiriting  to  the 
patriotic  heart.  At  the  same  time  I  lost  a  much  coveted  opportunity  for  seeing 
General  Grant.  While  we  were  encamped  at  Burkville,  a  number  of  us  under  the 
guidance  of  Captain  Lord  went  to  his  headquarters  for  that  purpose  but  were 
doomed  to  a  cruel  disappointment.  The  general,  only  an  hour  or  two  before,  had 
set  out  for  Appomattox  Court  House  to  receive  the  surrender  of  General  Lee. 
At  the  grand  review,  the  ever  modest  commander-in-chief  instead  of  riding  at  the 
head  of  his  victorious  army,  occupied  a  place  on  the  reviewing  stand  with  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet,  the  Supreme  Court  and  Congress,  and  so  I  was  never 
so  fortunate  as  to  catch  even  a  passing  glimpse  of  that  great  general,  whose  fame 
will  be  immortal  in  the  annals  of  history. 

But,  as  if  in  compensation  for  my  loss,  I  received  an  unexpected  but  pleasant 
surprise.  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  first  day,  May  23d,  when  tens  of  thou 
sands  were  flocking  into  Washington  from  far  and  near,  I  encountered  many 
friends  from  my  home  city  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  from  whom  I  learned  that  my 
father  had  come  with  them  to  witness  the  grand  review.  Of  course,  I  was  on 
the  watch  for  him  the  whole  of  that  day,  but  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  the 


Chaplain  Gibson 


James  A.  Meyers 

Hospital   Steward,  45th  Regiment  Penna.  Vols., 
October,  1863. 


Medical  History  of  the  Regiment.  317 

afternoon,  as  we  were  about  to  return  to  Alexandria  for  the  night,  that  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  and  greet  him.  We  took  him  with  us  to  camp,  gave  him  a 
soldier's  supper  and  furnished  him  with  the  softest  bed  we  could  find ;  but  the 
softest  bed  was  too  hard  a  bed  for  him,  and  I  fear  he  found  little  or  no  sleep 
that  first  night  of  his  spent  in  a  soldier's  tent. 

But  it  is  time  to  bring  this  paper  to  a  close.  There  are  yet  other  reminis 
cences  I  should  be  delighted  to  record,  were  I  not  mindful  that  I  have  no  right  to 
occupy  too  much  of  the  reader's  attention  with  incidents  in  the  chaplain's  quiet 
activity,  after  the  war  was  already  ended  and  the  regiment  awaiting  its  happy 
return  home.  I  have  never  regretted  my  short  term  of  service  as  if  it  was  a 
culpable  waste  of  life.  It  gave  me  a  new  and  richer  experience  of  life,  afforded 
a  deeper  insight  into  the  varieties  of  human  character,  filled  me  with  intense 
hatred  of  the  awful  horrors  of  war,  and  kindled  in  my  soul  an  unquenchable 
yearning  for  the  day,  still  perhaps  in  the  far  distant  future,  when  war  shall  be 
forever  banished  and  universal  peace  be  established  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  And,  in  closing,  I  would  express  the  hope,  that  at  the  end  of  time,  when 
the  battle  of  life  shall  have  been  fought  and  the  final  reveille  been  sounded,  the 
comrades  of  the  Forty-fifth  may  awake  from  the  sleep  of  death  to  the  peace  and 
joy  of  eternal  life. 

REV.  F.  A.  GAST,  D.  D., 
Professor  Emeritus  of  the  Theological  Seminary, 

Lancaster,  Pa 


MEDICAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  FORTY- 
FIFTH  REGIMENT 

At  the  time  of  organization  of  the  regiment  at  Camp  Curtin  the  Medical  Staff 
was  composed  of  George  L.  Potter,  of  Bellefonte,  Pa.,  surgeon,  and  Theodore  S. 
Christ,  of  Lewisburg,  Pa.,  assistant  surgeon.  W.  Godfrey  Hunter  was  promoted 
from  private  Company  A  to  hospital  steward,  November  26th,  1861. 

Dr.  Potter,  who  was  a  well  educated,  capable  medical  officer,  resigned  from 
the  service  August  1st,  1862.  Assistant  Surgeon  Theodore  S.  Christ  succeeded 
Surgeon  Potter,  his  promotion  dating  from  August  4th,  1862. 

Charles  S.  Styer  succeeded  Dr.  Christ  as  assistant  surgeon,  with  muster  dat 
ing  from  August  1st,  1862.  He  was  a  competent  officer,  well  liked  by  the  men 
and  officers  and  remained  with  the  regiment  until  promoted  Surgeon  United 
States  Volunteers,  January  12th,  1863. 

Robert  R.  Wiestling  joined  the  regiment  as  second  assistant  surgeon,  his 
muster  dating  from  August  13th,  1862. 

Dr.  Wiestling  was  present  and  on  duty  during  the  Battle  of  South  Mountain, 
September  14th,  1862,  was  taken  sick  and  went  to  hospital  with  typhoid  fever. 
Being  broken  in  health  he  resigned  from  the  service  February  22d,  1863.  Dr. 
Wiestling  gave  promise  of  making  a  useful  medical  officer  and  his  loss  was  re 
gretted. 


318     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

W.  S.  Yundt  was  mustered  as  assistant  surgeon,  February  23d,  1863,  and  re 
signed  May  18th,  1865.  Dr.  Yundt  was  a  genial  man  and  soon  made  many  friends 
in  the  command.  He  was  capable  as  a  medical  officer  and  should  have  been  pro 
moted  to  surgeon  on  the  resignation  of  Surgeon  Christ.  Unfortunately,  however, 
Governor  Curtin  could  not  be  induced  to  accede  to  the  recommendation  for  pro 
motion  of  Dr.  Yundt,  which  was  strongly  urged  by  Colonel  John  I.  Curtin  and 
others,  and  instead,  after  the  war  and  the  field  service  were  ended,  promoted  a 
stranger  to  hold  the  position  for  the  few  remaining  weeks,  thereby  depriving  Dr. 
Yundt  of  an  honor  which  was  justly  his  due.  Naturally,  the  doctor  resigned. 

John  K.  Maxwell  mustered  as  assistant  surgeon,  March  3d,  1863. 

Dr.  Maxwell  was  a  man  with  a  strong  personality;  somewhat  older  than  the 
majority  of  the  officers  and  men,  and  with  difficulty  adjusted  himself  to  his  posi 
tion  as  second  assistant  surgeon.  He  was,  however,  an  efficient  medical  officer  and 
honest  in  the  performance  of  his  duties.  He  was  severely  injured  near  Milldale, 
Miss.,  from  which  he  never  fully  recovered.  He  resigned  August  27th,  1864. 

The  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Assistant  Surgeon  Maxwell 
was  filled  by  the  appointment  of  C.  Edward  Iddings,  who  was  mustered  out  with 
the  regiment  July  17th,  1865. 

F.  B.  Davidson,  who  entered  the  service  August  12th,  1864,  as  assistant  sur 
geon,  Second  Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  was  transferred  and  mustered  as  surgeon  of 
the  Forty-fifth,  dating  from  May  27th,  1865. 

Of  the  noncommissioned  medical  staff,  Hospital  Steward  W.  Godfrey  Hunter 
was  mustered  out  in  September,  1862,  to  accept  promotion  as  assistant  surgeon  of 
another  regiment.  The  vacancy  thus  occasioned  was  filled  by  the  promotion  of 
James  A.  Myers,  a  private  of  Company  B,  to  be  hospital  steward,  the  date  of  his 
warrant  being  September  22d,  1862.  Steward  Myers  remained  in  this  position 
until  May  26th,  1865,  when  he  was  discharged  by  special  order  of  the  War  De 
partment  at  Alexandria,  Va. 

H.  D.  Deming,  private  Company  G,  was  promoted  to  fill  the  vacancy  and  mus 
tered  out  with  the  regiment. 

Unfortunately,  the  work  of  writing  a  regimental  history  was  from  various 
causes  delayed,  until  now  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  45  years,  the  writer  being 
the  only  survivor  of  those  of  the  medical  staff  who  followed  the  fortunes  and  par 
ticipated  in  the  work  of  our  dear  old  regiment,  is  called  upon  to  prepare  as  well 
as  he  may  something  of  its  medical  history.  This  could  have  been  done  so  much 
better  by  one  or  more  who  are  no  longer  with  us  that  I  have  approached  the  task 
with  great  reluctance.  I  am,  however,  doing  the  best  that  I  can  to  place  on  rec 
ord  from  the  little  data  at  my  command  and  from  memory  something  which  I 
trust  may  have  some  interest  to  the  few  members  of  the  regiment  who  survive 
and  possibly  to  the  posterity  of  those  who  followed  the  flag  of  the  Forty-fifth. 

Of  the  work  of  the  Medical  Department  in  the  early  days  and  while  the  regi 
ment  was  in  South  Carolina  I  have  no  personal  knowledge.  During  this  period  it 
appears  to  have  been  largely  confined  to  the  ordinary  routine  among  the  sick, 
there  having  been  no  engagements  in  which  any  considerable  number  were 
wounded;  nor  had  there  been  any  extended  experience  such  as  is  acquired  only 
when  operating  in  connection  with  armies  in  movements  and  facing  the  enemy. 
So  that  when  the  troops  under  command  of  General  Burnside  became  a  part  of 


Medical  History  of  the  Regiment     .  319 

the  army  under  General  McClellan  there  was  much  to  be  learned  by  the  Medical 
Staff.  Our  regiment  on  reaching  Washington,  September  6th,  1862,  became  a 
part  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  as  such  participated  in  the  Battle  of  South 
Mountain,  September  14th,  1862.  In  going  into  this  fight  the  surgeon  and  both 
assistants  were  with  the  regiment.  This  seemed  to  be  considered  the  proper 
place  for  them.  However,  when  the  musketry  fire  opened  and  the  air  was  full 
of  uncomfortable  sounds,  Dr.  Christ  soon  realized  that — to  use  his  own  words — 
"It  is  to  -  -  hot  here;"  turning  to  the  assistant  surgeons,  he  ordered  them  to 
attend  to  the  temporary  dressings  of  the  many  wounded,  sending  them  a  little 
way  down  the  mountain  to  a  little  log  house  where  he  established  our  field  hos 
pital.  This  was  not  entirely  out  of  range,  but  on  the  whole  better  suited  to  the 
work  that  was  in  hand,  and  wrork  it  was,  for  our  boys  were  hard  hit.  The  loss 
in  our  regiment  alone  being  about  140  killed  and  wounded. 

The  scenes  in  and  about  that  little  log  house  I  cannot  describe,  but  there  is 
one  impression  gained  there  and  on  many  subsequent  fields  that  remains  with 
me,  and  that  is  with  wh?t  uncomplaining  fortitude  the  boys  bore  their  sufferings. 
Patiently  they  awaited  the  attention  that  was  so  necessary,  and  patiently  and 
without  a  murmur  they  met  the  advance  of  death. 

Our  next  engagement  was  three  days  later  at  Antietam.  Here  while  the 
fighting  was  terrific  and  the  losses  of  our  army  great,  it  was  the  great  good  for 
tune  of  our  regiment  to  escape  with  a  comparatively  small  list  of  killed  and 
wounded,  yet  there  was  plenty  of  work  for  all. 

In  October,  while  encamped  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Md.,  there  seemed  to  be  an 
outbreak  of  itch  about  regimental  headquarters.  Remedies  were  asked  for  and 
used  until  one  day  Sumner  Pettus,  one  of  the  hospital  attendants,  engaged  in 
washing  underclothing  for  Dr.  -  — ,  called  my  attention  to  a  condition  which 
explained  the  outbreak  of  itch,  as  supposed,  but  which  was  nothing  else  than  a 
host  of  the  soldiers'  friend.0  °r  enemies,  as  you  choose,  the  gentle  and  close  stick 
ing  "grayback."  Result,  no  more  medicines  but  an  order  from  headquarters  for 
a  general  wash  up.  Boys,  do  you  remember  the  day  when  your  only  suit  was 
hung  on  the  bushes  along  the  creek  to  dry  while  you  sat  in  the  sun? 

Considering  all  the  exposure  of  this  campaign,  the  general  health  of  the 
regiment  remained  good.  There  was  but  one  death  in  camp  from  disease  until 
after  reaching  Fredericksburg ;  this  was  at  Waterford,  Va. 

At  Fredericksburg,  during  the  great  battle  of  December  12th,  1862,  the  field 
hospital  of  the  division  was  located  in  the  court  house.  Here  was  performed  an 
operation  in  conservative  surgery  which  at  that  time  was  new  to  us.  Surgeon 
Coggswell  of  the  Twenty-ninth  Massachusetts  by  resection  removed  a  consider 
able  portion  of  the  bone  of  the  upper  arm,  which  had  been  fractured  by  a  ball, 
thereby  saving  the  arm.  The  man  was  one  of  our  own,  whose  name  I  have  for 
gotten.  His  recovery  was  rapid.  During  the  siege  of  Knoxville  this  same  sur 
geon  by  resection  removed  a  considerable  portion  of  the  lower  jaw  of  one  of 
his  men.  This  was  a  case  of  comminuted  fracture.  This  man  also  made  a  good 
recovery. 

From  Fredericksburg  to  Newport  News,  during  our  stay  here,  there  was  a 
smallpox  scare,  resulting  in  a  general  order  for  vaccination.  It  was  something 
to  see  the  first  sergeants  bringing  their  men  by  companies  each  with  a  bared  arm 


320     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

to  receive  the  virus.  There  were  a  lot  of  sore  arms  but  no  smallpox  in  the  regi 
ment.  More  than  a  year  later  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  Quartermaster  Sergeant  J. 
Hall  Musser  developed  the  only  case  we  had.  Prompt  isolation  and  a  stay  of  a 
couple  of  months  in  a  tent  far  away  from  any  others  and  Musser  showed  up 
good  as  new  and  can  to-day  answer  roll  call  for  himself. 

From  Newport  News  to  the  Blue  Grass  of  Kentucky,  a  good  climate,  good 
\vater  and  good  food  meant  that  the  hospital  had  but  a  few  patients.  But  then 
came  the  call  to  Vicksburg.  Joe  Johnston  was  threatening  Grant's  rear  and  the 
old  reliable  Ninth  Corps  must  go.  The  good  pastures  of  Kentucky  were  ex 
changed  for  the  swamps  of  the  Yazoo,  filled  with  malaria  and  congestive  chill. 
Then  began  the  fight  with  disease;  hospitals  filled  and  many  sick  in  quarters, 
taken  down  with  chill  in  the  morning,  dead  and  buried  by  sundown  was  the 
record  in  some  cases. 

When  Vicksburg  was  about  to  fall  Sherman  with  his  own  and  the  Ninth 
Corps  was  sent  after  Johnston,  each  regiment  of  our  corps  leaving  its  regimental 
hospitals  filled  with  sick  in  the  various  regimental  camps  scattered  over  miles  of 
the  Milldale  country.  The  medical  officers  accompanied  the  troops.  The  writer 
was  left  .in  charge  at  our  camp  with  55  sick.  The  situation  was  strenuous  and  a 
call  for  help  resulted  in  the  sending  back  of  Dr.  Maxwell  with  orders  to  assume 
charge  of  and  concentrate  the  various  regimental  hospitals. 

In  order  to  carry  out  his  instructions  Dr.  Maxwell,  accompanied  by  the 
writer,  started  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  riding  in  an  ambulance.  After  visiting 
the  camp  of  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York  and  starting  homeward,  the  night 
pitch  dark  after  a  thunder  storm,  the  driver  losing  the  road,  the  ambulance  was 
upset,  resulting  in  the  serious  injury  of  Dr.  Maxwell  and  the  breaking  of  three 
of  his  ribs.  From  this  he  never  fully  recovered,  although  with  a  signal  devo 
tion  to  duty  he  continued  in  the  service  for  a  year  longer.  His  ultimate  end 
was  undoubtedly  hastened  by  this  occurrence. 

At  last  came  the  welcome  orders  to  ship  our  sick  and  prepare  to  leave  the 
Milldale  valley  of  death  and  go  up  the  river  to  Cairo  by  boat.  On  reaching  here 
a  large  number  of  new  cases  were  transferred  to  the  hospital  boat,  then  by  rail 
to  Covington,  Ky.  The  seeds  of  disease  sown  in  Mississippi  still  pursuing  us, 
another  lot  of  sick  was  sent  to  hospital,  thence  to  Camp  Park  and  here  the  sick 
multiplied  until,  when  the  regiment  left  for  Crab  Orchard  the  hospital  in  charge 
of  the  writer  contained  155  patients.  Here,  also,  was  the  only  case  of  diphtheria 
which  we  had  in  all  the  years,  resulting  fatally,  as  did  a  number  of  cases  of  ma 
larial  fever.  When  ordered  to  rejoin  the  regiment  the  most  serious  cases  were 
sent  to  the  general  hospital  at  Camp  Nelson,  the  others  in  ambulances  and  on 
foot  going  to  Crab  Orchard.  Hardly  had  we  reached  there  when  marching  or 
ders  for  East  Tennessee  came.  Reveille  at  3  A.  M.,  and  march  at  daylight  were 
orders  for  September  10th.  Again  our  sick  boys  had  to  be  left  behind,  this  time 
in  charge  of  Maxwell.  A  number  of  the  sick  of  the  Mississippi  campaign  died 
in  the  general  hospital,  others  were  discharged  for  physical  disability  and  a  num 
ber  who  had  recovered  and  were  enroute  to  rejoin  the  regiment  were  captured  on 
the  Clinch  Mountain  in  East  Tennessee.  Many  of  these  died  in  Rebel  prisons. 

After  a  wearisome  march  the  command  entered  East  Tennessee  by  way  of 
Cumberland  Gap.  Here  under  the  influence  of  a  good  climate  the  boys  recuper- 


Medical  History  of  the  Regiment  321 

ated  and  were  ready  for  the  hard  campaign  which  was  before  them.  November 
found  us  in  winter  quarters  at  Lenoirs  Station  on  the  East  Tennessee  and 
Georgia  Railroad.  From  these  comfortable  quarters  the  advent  of  Longstreet 
drove  us.  Then  the  skirmish  at  Lenoir  and  retreat  to  Knoxville  with  the  hot 
little  fight  at  Campbells  Station  on  November  16th. 

Dr.  Christ  was  now  surgeon  in  chief  of  brigade,  with  Dr.  Yundt  in  charge 
of  regiment.  The  retreat  to  Knoxville  proved  disastrous  to  the  medical  depart 
ment  in  the  loss  of  both  brigade  medical  wagons,  with  all  their  much  needed 
stores.  Our  loss  proved  our  enemy's  gain  and  doubtless  many  a  poor  Johnny 
profited  by  it. 

The  siege  of  Knoxville  was  now  on,  with  our  hospital  established  in  the 
court  house.  Day  by  day  the  list  of  wounded  increased  and  day  by  day  our 
scanty  store  of  medical  supplies  became  less  until  it  became  necessary  to  wash 
old  bandages  and  use  them  again,  repeating  the  operation  from  time  to  time. 
Disinfectants,  excepting  a  little  bromine,  we  did  not  have.  Notwithstanding  all 
this  and  with  the  main  court  room  lying  full  of  wounded  men,  we  had  but  one 
case  of  gangrene  and  that  was  fatal.  Operations,  major  and  minor,  were  of 
daily  occurrence.  Finally  the  climax  came  when  Longstreet  assaulted  Fort 
Sanders,  November  29th.  Then  came  the  streams  of  wounded  Johnnies  who  all 
received  the  same  care  and  attention  as  our  own  wounded.  They  were  simply 
wounded  men  requiring  help. 

In  recording  the  names,  etc.,  of  the  enemy's  wounded,  I  found  one  who  had 
been  brought  in  on  a  stretcher.  In  reply  to  my  question,  he  said  that  he  was 
wounded  in  both  legs  below  the  knees.  An  examination  showed  no  injury,  but 
simply  red  marks  where  he  had  struck  the  telegraph  wire  obstruction  in  front 
of  the  fort,  plunging  headlong  among  the  dead  and  wounded  in  the  moat.  His 
imagination  had  done  the  rest.  A  somewhat  surprised  man  was  turned  over  to 
the  provost  marshal  as  a  prisoner,  while  one  of  his  comrades  remarked,  "Yes! 
If  it  hadn't  been  for  that  damned  telegraph  wire,  we  would  have  got  you,"  and 
maybe  might  have  done  so. 

With  the  disappearance  of  Longstreet  there  was  little  for  the  medical  de 
partment  except  ordinary  routine.  The  homeward  march  in  January,  1864,  after 
reenlisting  was  made  by  men  who  represented  the  physical  cream  of  the  old 
regiment,  and  had  little  need  for  the  doctor. 

The  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1864  found  us  bringing  up  the  rear  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  in  its  march  to  the  Wilderness.  With  it,  but  as  yet  not 
an  integral  part,  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  went  into  the  Wilderness  fight,  with 
the  medical  department  not  well  prepared  for  active  field  service,  so  much  so  that 
after  the  fight  had  opened  and  the  writer  was  ordered  to  report  to  the  surgeon 
in  charge  of  field  hospital  for  duty,  there  was  only  the  officer  himself  to  be 
found  and  the  organization  was  made  subsequently  as  best  it  could  be.  However, 
it  was  done,  and  the  hosts  of  wounded  cared  for,  from  this  time  until  the  end, 
almost  a  year  later.  There  was  to  be  no  let  up  and  night  and  day  the  work  went 
on.  As  the  long  day  of  May  6th  was  drawing  to  a  close  our  hospital  was  located 
in  rear  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  the  ground  lying  full  of  wounded  men.  Of  a  sud 
den  an  uproar  in  our  front  arose  and  back  came  a  demoralized  brigade.  Over 
us  they  went  and  we  were  between  the  lines.  It  was  uncomfortable  and  gave 


322     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

promise  of  a  Rebel  prison.  Two  of  my  attendants,  Jim  Stonecypher  of  Company 
K,  and  Van  Buren  Holliday  of  Company  H,  volunteering  to  stay  with  me,  re 
mained  until  all  were  ordered  within  the  lines  and  the  wounded  rescued. 

At  Spottsylvania  the  medical  department  was  handicapped  by  a  lack  of 
shelter  from  the  cold  rain,  hundreds  of  wounded  lying  exposed  to  the  elements. 
At  Cold  Harbor  or  Bethesda  Church  the  field  hospital  was  shelled  out  of  three 
different  locations. 

After  many  privations  Petersburg  was  reached.  The  siege  commenced 
here  with  a  good  base  of  supplies  and  plenty  of  material,  division  hospitals 
were  set  up,  the  wounded  and  sick  well  cared  for  and  from  time  to  time  sent 
to  the  depot  hospitals  at  City  Point,  and  thence  to  the  north.  Dr.  Christ  was 
now  surgeon  in  chief  of  division,  Dr.  W.  R.  D.  Blackwood,  of  the  Forty-eighth 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  having  succeeded  him  in  charge  of  brigade. 

Dr.  Maxwell  resigned  in  August,  Dr.  Iddings  succeeding  him  and  Dr. 
Christ  resigned  in  October,  leaving  a  vacancy  unfilled,  as  before  stated. 

These  resignations  were  a  distinct  loss  to  both  the  regiment  and  the  serv 
ice.  They  were  both  experienced  and  capable  officers. 

At  last  came  the  final  assault  on  Petersburg,  where  Captain  Cheeseman, 
commanding  the  regiment,  lost  his  leg  and  Lieutenant  Robb  was  killed.  These 
casualties  at  the  end  seemed  doubly  hard  with  home  in  sight. 

Petersburg  fell;  then  the  chase  after  Lee;  the  surrender;  back  to  Alex 
andria,  then  Johnny  went  marching  home  to  Harrisburg  and  his  final  discharge. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  tp  say  that  wherever  the  regiment  went,  or  whatever 
duty  it  was  called  to  perform,  its  medical  staff  was  there,  always  ready  for  serv 
ice  and  winning  for  itself  a  recognition  from  the  higher  authorities  of  the  Medi 
cal  Department  of  the  army. 

Reader,  if  you  find  in  what  I  have  written  something  told  that  will  com 
mend  itself,  I  am  content. 

JAMES  A.  MYERS, 

Hospital  Steward. 

SURGEON  FRANCIS  BARKER  DAVISON. 

Francis  Barker  Davison,  M.  D.,  major  and  surgeon,  was  born  July  8th, 
1827,  at  Thompson,  Conn.  His  grandfather,  Daniel  Davison,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
War  of  1776  and  his  father,  Rufus  Davison,  in  the  War  of  1812. 

Dr.  Davison  was  in  New  York  City  buying  goods  when  Fort  Sumter  was 
fired  upon  by  the  Rebels,  and  participated  in  the  excitement  of  that  occasion.  He 
was  in  the  recruiting  service  for  the  inspection  of  recruits  in  Camp  Curtin  at 
Harrisburg  in  August,  1862. 

On  August  18th,  1864,  he  was  commissioned  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the 
Second  Pennsylvania  Cavalry. 

March  29th,  1865,  when  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  commenced  its  last  and 
grandest  movement,  the  Second  Pennsylvania  Cavalry  remained  southeast  of 
Petersburg  on  the  flank  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  and  reported  to  General  Parke.  Dr. 
Davison  was  in  Fort  Sedgwick,  April  2d,  during  a  lull  in  the  bombardment 
where  he  had  his  best  view  of  General  Parke.  At  2  A.  M.,  April  3d,  Petersburg 


Surgeon  F.  B.  Davison. 


Lieut.  Col.   Theo.  Gregg 


Surgeon  Theodore  S.  Christ 


Medical  History  of  the  Regiment  323 

was  evacuated,  and  only  a  few  hours  afterwards,  he  rode  with  several  officers 
into  Petersburg  following  President  Lincoln,  who  rode  horseback,  with  his  son, 
Tad,  riding  at  his  side.  This  proved  to  be  the  last  time  he  saw  Mr.  Lincoln. 
About  April  10th,  the  Second  Pennsylvania  Cavalry  was  detailed  for  guard  duty 
at  General  Meade's  headquarters  at  Burkeville,  Va.,  and  on  the  march  to  report, 
met  General  Ewell  and  his  corps,  including  four  other  generals  recently  taken 
prisoners  by  Sheridan,  and  on  arrival  at  Burkeville  heard  the  sad  news  of  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln. 

General  Meade  with  his  headquarters,  of  which  the  Second  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry  was  a  part,  started,  May  1st,  on  the  march  for  Washington,  D.  C.  The 
band  played  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  which  more  than  ever  before  cheered  every 
heart.  The  leading  event  of  this  march  was  the  review  in  Richmond.  Dr. 
Davison  rode  the  fine  bay  presented  to  him  by  his  army  friends,  which  he 
finally  took  to  his  home  in  Pennsylvania.  The  next  noteworthy  occurrence  was 
the  grand  review  of  the  armies,  May  22d  and  23d,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

On  May  27th  Dr.  Davison  was  promoted  and  commissioned  to  rank  as 
major  and  was  appointed  surgeon  of  John  I.  Curtin's  Forty-fifth  Pennsyl 
vania  Regiment,  into  which  he  was  mustered,  and  in  which  he  was  very 
happy,  and  with  which  he  was  discharged  July  17th  to  24th,  1865.  In  this  regi 
ment  Colonel  Theodore  Gregg  was  breveted  by  the  President  for  bravery  at 
the  mine  explosion,  and  General  James  A.  Beaver  (afterward  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania),  was  promoted  from  this  regiment. 

Surgeon  Davison  now  returned  to  private  life  and  the  practice  of  his  pro 
fession. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Lackawanna  County  Medical  Society,  was  its  presi 
dent  in  1886,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  Penn 
sylvania,  and  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  of  Nicholson  Lodge,  No. 
438,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  of  Post  No.  85,  G.  A.  R.,  at  Glenwood. 

One  day  as  we  escorted  a  Massachusetts  regiment,  just  discharged,  to  a 
boat  at  Alexandria,  the  driver  of  a  wagon  crowded  the  regiment  before  the 
house  where  Colonel  Ellsworth  was  assassinated.  Colonel  Theodore  Gregg 
drove  the  driver  and  his  team  upon  the  sidewalk.  I  was  fearful  Colonel  Gregg 
would  put  his  sword  through  the  driver  as  he  did  the  Rebel  major  at  the  crater. 

F.  B.  DAVISON. 


324     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


HORRORS  OF  REBEL  PRISONS 

JAMES  F.  DEUEL. 

To  give  you  something  of  an  idea  of  my  prison  life  I  must  commence  with 
my  enlistment  in  February,  1864.  I  was  enrolled  to  fill  up  the  Old  Forty-fifth 
Pennsylvania,  a  veteran  regiment.  Therefore,  you  see  I  was  soon  at  the  front. 
Trace  the  history  of  this  regiment  during  the  period  of  time  from  the  last  of 
February  until  September  30th,  1864,  and  you  will  have  some  idea  how  a  boy 
of  20  years  of  age  must  have  felt  on  finding  himself  a  prisoner  of  war.  (My 
capture  as  you  will  see  occurred  before  Petersburg  on  the  30th  of  September.) 
We  had  drawn  five  days'  rations  early  in  the  morning  and  had  been  marching 
all  day  until  we  entered  the  fight.  By  some  maneuver  the  Rebs  had  gained  out 
rear  before  we  were  aware  of  it  and  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we 
found  that  we  were  surrounded  and  forced  to  surrender.  After  our  surrender 
we  were  marched  back  to  their  rear  and  robbed  of  our  rations  and  all  our  loose 
clothing.  They  took  my  hat  also,  but  they  served  others  worse  than  they  did 
me.  It  soon  became  dark  and  with  the  darkness  came  the  most  terrible  rain 
storm  that  I  ever  experienced.  The  darkness  was  stygian  and  the  rained  poured 
in  torrents.  Amid  the  terrible  storm — tired,  weary  and  hungry,  for  we  had  not 
tasted  food  since  morning — we  were  ordered  to  march  five  miles  on  to  Peters 
burg  and  to  Lee's  headquarters.  When  we  arrived  it  was  near  midnight  of  that 
never-to-be-forgotten  night  of  horrors.  We  were  ordered  to  wade  a  canal  with 
the  water  up  to  our  armpits  and  take  up  our  quarters  on  an  island.  This  islan'd 
was  a  low,  wet  strip  of  land  just  large  enough  for  the  men  to  stand  on,  for  we 
were  then  10,000  strong.  There  without  rations,  cold  and  wet,  we  stood  the  rest 
of  the  night  amid  the  driving  storm.  Morning  came  at  last  but  no  relief. 
Through  the  entire  day  we  stood  there  shoulder  to  shoulder  and  the  storm 
went  on.  This  was  on  Saturday  night.  Night  again  shut  us  in  amid  the  roar 
ing  waters  that  beat  upon  us.  Not  room  enough  to  sit  or  lie  down,  wet  through 
and  chilled  by  the  storm,  our  sufferings  beggar  description.  All  through  that 
second  night  of  misery  we  remained  on  the  island  without  relief.  Again  the 
morning  came,  the  Sabbath  morn;  but  Oh,  how  strangely  different  from  any 
Sabbath  we  had  ever  known !  Let  me  pause  here,  my  comrades,  to  say  that 
not  one  of  us  who  saw  that  morning  dawn  can  ever  tell  the  same  without  a 
feeling  of  that  nameless  horror  which  filled  our  hearts  that  day,  while  'neath  a 
southern  sky,  amid  rain  and  storm,  we  stood  waiting  our  unknown  fate.  About 
noon  the  rain  ceased,  but  not  until  four  o'clock  was  there  any  change.  Then 
our  persecutors  began  to  build  a  small  bridge  across  the  boiling  waters.  Di 
rectly  we  were  ordered  to  pass,  five  at  a  time,  to  the  mainland,  register  our 
names,  give  up  whatever  valuables  or  money  that  we  still  possessed  and  draw 
rations.  These  were  the  first  rations  that  we  had  received  since  we  entered  the 
Rebel  lines.  It  consisted  of  three  small,  hard  crackers.  At  first  the  boys  were 
frightened,  and  thought  this  time  they  would  lose  everything,  but  we  soon  saw 
that  we  could  manage.  Be  it  understood  here  that  the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania 
had  just  drawn  pay  and  nearly  every  one  of  the  boys  had  from  one  to  two 
watches,  besides  rings  and  other  articles  of  value  which  they  had  managed  to 


Horrors  of  Rebel  Prisons  325 

keep  through  the  first  search.  In  the  darkness  it  was  probably  carried  on  more 
by  thieves  than  any  one  else.  Our  lack  of  overcoats,  knapsacks,  etc.,  through 
these  long  terrible  nights  and  days,  was  due  to  camp  thieves  and  the  lack  of 
protection,  which  we  should  have  received.  But  to  return  to  the  second  search, 
which  was  not  a  scientific  one.  When  we  were  searched  we  were  allowed  to  re 
turn  to  the  island.  After  they  had  satisfied  their  desire  for  unholy  gain  (or 
in  other  words  after  they  had  finished  the  robbery),  they  managed  to  let  the 
water  off  from  one  side  of  the  island.  On  one  side  was  a  canal,  and  the  water 
was  let  off  sufficient  for  us  to  wade  back  to  the  city  of  Petersburg.  With  the 
water  up  to  our  armpits  we  found  it  a  rather  difficult  task,  but  Yankee  grit  and 
resolution  succeeded  at  last  and  we  gained  the  shore.  In  this  condition  we  were 
ordered  to  form  four  abreast  and  march  through  the  streets  of  Petersburg  wittf 
mounted  guards.  We  were  put  to  double  quick  marching  from  street  to  street 
for  exhibition,  until  not  a  man  in  the  whole  number  but  reeled  like  one  drunk 
from  sheer  exhaustion.  When  we  could  march  no  longer  our  Satanic  oppressors 
placed  us  in  an  old  tobacco  house  with  the  roof  torn  partly  off  by  shots  from  our 
guns.  With  this  remark — "they  hoped  now  the  whole  thing  would  be  blown 
away  with  our  d —  Yankee  guns,"  which  remark  I  believe  was  made  in  dead 
earnest.  But  to  return.  Here  without  anything  to  eat  but  those  three  wormy, 
hard  crackers  and  no  water  whatever,  wet  through  from  our  recent  exposure  and 
but  the  naked,  dilapidated  old  building  to  keep  us  warm,  we  spent  the  first  night 
that  we  were  privileged  to  lie  down  within  the  Rebel  lines.  We  welcomed  the 
cold,  hard  boards,  as  we  had  never  welcomed  the  best  beds  in  our  far-distant, 
Northern  homes.  Morning  came  and  our  sufferings  became  intense.  We  re 
ceived  no  more  rations — neither  water.  Packed  in  that  inhuman  manner  in  the 
old  building  without  care  or  attention  we  were  left  until  Tuesday  towards  night. 
Then  we  were  again  marched  out  and  taken  to  a  slope  or  hill  about  a  mile  from 
Petersburg,  to  await  transportation  to  Richmond.  We  lay  on  that  hill  the  most 
of  the  night  and  arrived  at  our  destination  early  next  morning,  it  being  only  20 
miles  distant.  At  Richmond  we  went  immediately  to  Castle  Thunder,  a  large 
stone  building  opposite  Libbey  prison.  The  Rebs  placed  me  with  a  good  many 
more  on  the  third  floor  where  we  were  waiting,  anxious  to  know  what  would 
come  next,  when  a  darkey  appeared  at  the  landing  and  began  to  beat  a  drum.  Not 
knowing  what  was  wanted  we  waited  further  developments,  but  we  did  not  wait 
long  before  we  were  aware  of  what  was  wanted.  Some  Rebel  officers  made 
their  appearance  and  began  to  assail  us  with  one  of  the  most  brutal,  horrible 
harangues  of  cursing  and  swearing  which  I  believe  possible  for  a  gang  of  vil 
lains  to  produce  and  the  outcome  of  the  whole  thing  was  for  us  to  form  in  line, 
two  deep,  lengthwise  of  the  room,  take  off  all  our  clothes  and  lay  them  in  front 
of  us  on  the  floor  without  delay,  while  that  Rebel  gang  went  through  them.  But 
first  as  many  of  us  as  would  give  what  we  had  left  to  the  officers  should  foe 
registered  and  when  we  were  exchanged  they,  those  Rebels,  would  return  them 
again,  which  promise  in  every  case  they  failed  to  remember  or  wholly  ignored. 
Quite  a  number  gave  them  what  they  had,  but  were  forced  to  strip  with  the  rest 
and  submit  to  this  inhuman  search.  We  were  obliged  to  stand  with  arms  folded 
and  see  them  cut  our  clothes  to  pieces  and  take  everything  that  we  had,  in  many 
cases  taking  our  good  clothes,  leaving  us  a  few  miserable  rags.  When  they  were 
satisfied  they  left  us  to  dress.  I  had  taken  my  watch,  having  broken  the  main 


326     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

spring  so  it  would  not  tick,  and  put  it  in  the  toe  of  one  of  my  socks;  just  stick 
ing  the  toe  in  my  shoe.  It  looked  so  natural  that  it  passed  inspection  and  I  saved 
my  watch,  while  others  had  their  clothes  half  cut  to  pieces  in  the  search.  Let 
me  state  here  that  Castle  Thunder,  I  believe,  had  been  an  old  tobacco  factory 
before  the  war.  The  room  in  which  I  was  placed  was  about  30x70  feet  without 
any  furniture  whatever,  but  the  smooth,  hard  floor  and  naked  wall's.  Its  large 
windows  were  barred  up  and  down  each  with  seven  iron  bars,  but  with  all  it 
was  comparatively  clean.  Here  also  we  were  much  crowded,  giving  us  little 
chance  to  lie  down  or  rest.  We  had  no  access  to  the  lower  floors  and  I  do  not 
know  how  the  boys  fared  there  at  this  time.  We  stayed  in  Castle  Thunder  until 
towards  night,  but  received  no  rations  whatever.  We  were  then  taken  out  and 
placed  in  Libbey  Prison.  While  passing  from  Castle  Thunder  to  the  prison,  some 
of  us  managed  to  buy  on  the  streets  of  passersby  some  corn  bread,  for  we  were 
starving ;  for  which  cause  we  were  again  searched  at  Libbey  Prison.  This  search 
was  carried  on  in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  at  Castle  Thunder.  Finding 
that  we  must  go  through  with  another  inhuman  robbery,  I  dug  a  hole  in  my  lit 
tle  loaf  of  bread  and  put  my  watch  inside  and  plastered  it  over  with  mud.  It 
again  passed  inspection.  Libbey  Prison  was  extremely  dirty  and  filled  to  over 
flowing.  It  also  smelt  very  bad.  This  prison  had  stalls  and  alleys,  was  firmly 
fastened  by  iron  bars  at  the  windows  and  withal  was  the  most  doleful,  woebe- 
gotten  place  one  could  well  conceive.  We  remained  in  this  abode  of  horrors  until 
the  next  day,  when  we  were  again  on  the  wing.  We  were  ordered  out  in  the 
streets,  before  we  left  Richmond,  bound  for  the  far  South.  We  again  drew  ra 
tions  that  consisted  of  a  round  ball  of  corn  bread,  ground  cob  and  all  and  so 
hard  that  they  immediately  received  the  name  of  solid  shot.  We  then  marched 
to  the  train  and  were  packed  in  cattle  cars  about  two-thirds  as  large  as  our 
common  cars  in  which  the  United  States  Government  usually  put  40  men — and 
they  made  them  take  80.  The  tops  of  the  cars  were  so  low  that  I  could  not 
straighten  up  or  stand  erect.  We  were  packed  so  tightly  that  I  could  not  move 
an  inch  either  way,  and  with  the  door  locked  we  nearly  suffocated,  to  say  noth 
ing  about  our  weariness.  Here  let  me  explain  that  the  railroad  in^  that  part  of 
the  country  in  1864  was  a  single  track  with  switches.  All  the  Rebel  supply  trains 
were  from  the  South,  coming  mostly  from  South  Carolina  at  that  time,  so  we 
were  obliged  to  sidetrack  and  wait  for  hours  in  order  to  let  them  pass.  This 
made  our  journey  more  tiresome  than  it  otherwise  would  have  been  and  only  on 
the  third  day  towards  night  did  we  reach  Danville.  Here  we  unloaded  in  an 
open  field  and  drew  rations.  This  time  it  was  good  corn  bread  made  from  clear, 
nice  Indian  meal;  and  we  enjoyed  it.  We  also  obtained  water  here  and  an  hour's 
rest  from  our  tedious  journey.  When  I  think  of  it  now  it  seems  like  a  green 
spot  in  a  desert  or  a  light  in  darkness.  At  dusk  we  were  again  crowded  into 
those  horrible  cars  and  proceeded  on  our  weary  way — on,  on  we  knew  not 
whither.  Our  next  stop  was  made  at  Greensboro,  where  we  were  sidetracked, 
and  by  begging  and  praying  we  succeeded  in  getting  the  car  doors  unlocked  to 
let  in  air  while  we  were  waiting  for  the  coming  train  to  pass.  We  also  ob 
tained  water.  Here  we  saw  Jeff  Davis  as  they  had  had  a  great  mass  meeting 
nearby  and  he  had  been  speaking  to  the  people.  They  hailed  him  almost  as  a 
god  and  seemed  to  be  perfectly  united  and  confident  of  success.  Probably  our 
appearance  just  at  this  particular  occasion  helped  on  their  enthusiastic  glee,  but 


Horrors  of  Rebel  Prisons  327 

be  as  it  may  they  seemed  to  think  they  were  sure  of  ultimate  success  and 
thought  themselves  capable  in  the  near  future  to  carry  the  war  to  the  North 
and  thus  relieve  the  suffering  South  from  the  carnage  and  terrible  devastation  of 
the  conflict.  We  remained  here  for  a  few  hours  and  then  were  again  locked  in 
from  the  outer  world  and  sent  on  our  weary  way.  Nothing  of  note  occurred 
unless  it  was  our  unknown  sufferings  which  can  never  be  described  until  that 
great  day  when  the  robe  of  white  is  given  for  the  faded  coat  of  blue,  and  God, 
Himself,  shall  reveal  the  secret  things  of  earth.  But  to  return.  Time  will  not 
stand  still  and  at  last  we  arrived  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  after  a  journey  of  five 
days,  having  tasted  bread  but  once  and  getting  water  but  twice.  During  the 
time  such  privations  as  this  in  our  previous  worn-out  condition  had  a  telling 
effect  but  we  had  only  commenced  our  misery  as  you  will  ere  long  see.  When 
we  arrived  at  our  destination  we  were  unloaded  and  marched  through  Salisbury 
and  thence  to  prison  which  was  to  be  our  home  for  five  long  months.  It  had 
once  consisted  of  an  old  cotton  factory,  worn  and  dilapidated  and  dismal  enough 
to  all  appearance,  but  now  when  the  influx  of  prisoners  was  so  great  they  had 
added  an  open  stockade.  This  had  no  water  privilege  and  no  shelter  from  the 
inclement  weather  which  was  then  coming  on.  Half  naked  as  we  were  we  had 
no  protection  by  night  or  day,  only  as  we  dug  holes  in  the  ground  and  crawled 
into  them  like  wild  beasts.  Our  rations  were  one-half  pound  of  hard  corn 
bread  made  from  corn  ground  cob  and  all  and  mixed  with  sorghum  seed.  This 
with  less  than  a  pint  of  pea  soup  so  filled  with  bugs  that  where  we  drew  for  100 
men  the  top  would  be  covered.  I  should  judge  that  it  was  made  from  peas, 
bugs  and  water  in  about  equal  parts,,  without  salt  or  pepper.  I  suppose  that  the 
Rebel  government  calculated  we  should  have  the  above  named  bill  of  fare  every 
day,  but  the  officers  oTten  suppressed  our  rations  and  we  went  day  after  day 
without  even  this. 

Then  our  number  began  to  decrease  rapidly  and  the  mule  team  took  from 
the  stockade  every  morning  our  beloved  comrades;  not  one  by  one,  but  by  the 
score.  They  were  thrown  into  a  common  woodrack,  or  rigging  just  as  you 
would  load  a  wagon  with  four  foot  wood,  and  took  them  from  among  us.  We 
begged  that  they  might  be  buried  and  they  finally  consented  to  let  our  own  men 
bury  the  dead  if  they  chose  and  for  which  service  they  allowed  those  that  did 
the  work  an  extra  ration  such  as  I  above  described.  This  they  did  more  be 
cause  they  were  obliged  to,  that  the  men  might  have  strength  to  perform  their 
task  t'FTan  for  any  other  reason.  And  accordingly,  surrounded  by  a  strong  guard 
we  performed  those  last  sad  offices,  the  best  that  lay  in  our  power.  They  were 
laid  in  trenches  side  by  side  without  shroud  or  coffin  or  even  a  friendly  blanket. 
They  sleep  in  their  unknowrn  graves  far  away  from  home  and  loved  ones  who 
may  never  know  their  sad  fate  nor  ever  come  to  shed  a  tear  beside  their  silent 
resting  place.  "Yet  'tis  holier  ground,  their  lowly  bed  where  sleep  the  conse 
crated  dead,  than  field  where  Liberty  hath  bled  beside  her  broken  battle  blade." 
Now  as  I  think  over  the  miseries  of  those  dark  hours  I  shudder  and  my  thoughts 
become  insupportable.  Oh,  comrades,  little  can  you  who  have  been  baptized 
with  us  in  one  common  baptism  of  fire  on  many  well-fought  battlefield;  ah, 
little  can  you  imagine  our  misery  and  woe  in  those  dark  days.  Kneeling  beside 
a  dying  comrade,  stretched  on  the  cold  damp  earth,  no  friendly  campfire  near 
to  warm  his  cold  emaciated  limbs ;  for  by  this  time  not  one  of  our  number  but 


328     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

looked  as  if  his  skin  was  drawn  over  a  few  sharp  bones.  Their  hair  hung  loose 
over  the  shoulders  and  their  eyes  were  sunk  into  their  heads.  This  and  our  tot 
tering  footsteps  told  too  plainly  the  story  of  our  wrongs  in  this  dire  condition 
in  mid-winter  in  North  Carolina  without  tent  or  blanket.  We  could  only  draw 
one  stick  of  green  wood  eight  feet  long  to  every  100  men.  This  was  so  meager 
that  it  could  be  of  little  use  under  these  circumstances.  As  I  was  saying  the 
comrades  were  dying  by  hundreds  and  we  begged  for  shelter  so  hard  for  the 
sick  that  they  allowed  us  to  occupy  some  old  buildings  that  stood  in  the  stockade. 
They  had  probably  been  the  tenant  houses,  attached  to  the  cotton  factory,  part  of 
which  was  used  as  officers  quarters,  but  which  were  now  empty.  Finally  they 
gave  us  three  of  those  old  buildings  for  hospital  purposes  which  I  will  now  de 
scribe.  We  had  a  few  miserable  old  blankets  given  us.  These  were  so  filled  with 
vermin  and  filth  that  they  were  scarcely  less  loathsome  than  the  miserable  old 
buildings.  Even  the  boys  themselves,  who  had  had  but  little  water  to  drink  and 
none  at  all  with  which  to  wash,  were  covered  with  body  lice  or  "graybacks"  as 
we  called  them.  But  some  will  say  that  we  might  have  kept  rid  of  them.  How  ? 
The  stockade  was  alive  and  even  the  ground  (it  being  a  loose  sandy  soil),  was 
one  living  mass  of  creeping  graybacks.  Now,  this  hospital  in  this  modern  bastile 
had  no  beds,  just  little  bunks  or  small  places  filled  with  straw.  We  had  no 
lights  allowed  us  but  there  was  an  old  fashioned  fireplace  in  each  of  those 
little  places.  Here  we  placed  our  little  wood  which  served  us  for  all  the  light 
we  had.  But  this  place,  void  of  all  the  necessaries  which  makes  life  bearable, 
was  far  better  than  the  open  stockade.  And  thus  time  wore  on.  It  was  then  the 
tunneling  began,  and  in  earnest.  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  how  we  worked 
at  this.  Shut  off  entirely  from  the  outside  world  we  were  bound  in  some  way 
to  send  the  tidings  of  our  fate  to  our  government  at  home  in  the  firm  belief  that 
we  should  receive  relief.  But  it  was  of  not  much  avail.  The  Rebels  said  Old 
Abe  would  not  exchange,  and  they  could  kill  us  faster  in  the  prison  than  they 
could  in  the  field,  at  the  front.  Towards  the  last  of  January  we  received  two 
tents  to  every  100  men.  The  tents,  one  of  which  was  a  wall  tent  which  would 
hold  16  men,  and  the  other  a  round  tent  which  would  hold  25.  Thus  you  see 
but  half  our  number  had  shelter,  and  we  were  obliged  to  change  off,  alternately 
sleeping  in  holes  in  the  ground.  Our  tent  was  a  round  one  in  which  24  men 
could  lie  down  with  their  feet  to  the  pole  in  the  center.  One  would  lay  on  top 
and  work  down  in.  When  we  turned  over  we  were  obliged  to  get  up  and  turn 
at  once.  It  was  nothing  uncommon  for  us  to  lie  down  at  night  to  sleep  and  dur 
ing  the  silent  hours,  when  none  but  God  was  near,  for  the  Angel  of  Death  to 
enter  our  tent  and  bear  away  our  suffering  comrades  to  that  shore  where  sor 
row  never  comes.  Many  times  I  have  seen  five  out  of  the  25  found  dead  in  the 
morning.  Gone  without  a  murmur;  dying  as  they  had  lived.  In  this  way  Com 
rade  Joe  Seymour,  of  Lawrenceville,  Pa.,  died  on  the  night  of  February  3d,  1865. 
A  brave  and  noble  soldier;  a  true  and  faithful  friend.  Four  others  died  the 
same  night  in  our  tent.  We  wept  not,  for  they  had  gone  where  they  would  be 
persecuted  no  more.  'Tis  true  they  would  never  see  the  dear  old  North  again, 
but  they  had  entered  the  happy  tenting  ground.  Though  they  sleep  that  sleep 
that  knows  no  waking  they  are  safely  housed  and  but  a  little  while  and  we  shall 
all  be  there.  On  the  5th  of  the  same  month  Comrade  Carl  Chatmen,  also  of 
Lawrenceville,  became  seriously  ill.  This  young  man  was  my  bosom  companion, 


Horrors  of  Rebel  Prisons  329 

and  to-day  the  tears  unbidden  start,  when  I  remember  his  unhappy  fate.  Pre 
vious  to  this  I  had  sold  my  watch  for  $400  in  Confederate  money  which  proved 
to  be  worth  one  cent  on  the  dollar,  but  it  was  something.  In  the  stockade  was  a 
kind  of  sutler  shop  where  we  could  buy  salt  for  a  dollar  a  pint  in  Confederate 
money,  also  a  sort  of  ginger  bread,  which  looked  very  much  like  a  boot  tap,  with 
a  sweet  taste  and  in  our  starved  condition  we  considered  it  a  great  luxury.  1 
never  saw  any  such  article  of  food  anywhere  else.  This  and  little  onions  we 
could  buy  for  one  dollar  a  piece  and  upwards.  We  could  get  tobacco  in  quite 
large  quantities  for  one  dollar  in  Confederate  money.  At  that  time  I  did  not  use 
tobacco ;  I  never  had.  But  Carl,  dear  noble  Carl,  did  and  it  seemed  he  could  not 
live  without  it.  So  when  my  money  ran  out  I  cut  the  buttons  off  my  coat  and 
sold  the  buckles  off  my  suspenders,  and  in  fact  everything  I  could  sell  to  buy 
his  tobacco  and  our  other  necessaries. 

I  had  a  new  suit  when  I  was  taken  and  so  did  my  companion,  Carl.  Mine 
I  succeeded  in  saving  with  the  exception  of  my  hat,  and  hatless  I  went  for  over 
six  months.  They  took  Carl's  coat  and  shoes,  leaving  him  an  old  gray  jacket  or 
blouse  coat  and  a  pair  of  worn-out  shoes  in  their  place.  Poor  boy,  how  my 
heart  bled  for  him.  The  only  son  of  wealthy  parents,  never  having  known  a 
want,  not  accustomed  to  the  hardships  of  life,  how  nobly  he  bore  our  common 
misery,  seeking  to  cheer  us,  striving  to  lighten  every  burden.  But  alas !  He  also 
sickened  and  on  the  5th  we  had  him  taken  to  the  hospital.  I  went  with  him.  I 
begged  as  a  boon  that  I  might.  There  by  that  poor  pallet  of  straw,  striving  to 
relieve  his  misery  I  watched  for  three  long  days.  But  he  knew  it  not.  God  in 
His  mercy  had  drawn  a  veil  over  the  squalid  misery  which  surrounded  him.  In 
fancy  he  stood  in  his  own  native  land,  while  he  lived  again  the  hours  of  his  boy 
hood,  but  the  scene  changes  and  he  sleeps.  The  gathering  pallor  warned  me 
that  the  change  is  near.  Closely  I  listened  for  each  murmured  word.  It  comes 
at  last.  He  calls  my  name  and  says:  "Shall  we  be  hungry  on  the  other  shore? 
Dear  Comrade,  take  my  head  upon  your  breast  and  let  me  fall  asleep.  Death 
hath  no  terrors  and  the  grave  no  gloom.  Don't  weep  but  gently  hum  the  tune 
I  love  so  well,  'Goodbye,  my  boy,  remember  all  is  well.'"  Closely  I  held. his  head 
upon  my  breast  and  feared  to  speak  long  after  the  notes  of  my  song  had  died 
away.  But  he,  my  noble  Carl,  had  passed  away  from  earth.  Without  an  out 
ward  sign  he  fell  asleep,  e'en  like  an  infant  on  its  mother's  breast.  I  felt  that 
our  loss  was  his  infinite  gain. 

This  was  on  the  8th  of  February,  18(35.  My  space  will  not  allow,  neither  is 
my  pen  adequate,  to  tell  you  one-half  of  what  we  suffered  in  that  loathsome 
prison  pen.  Out  of  all  the  men  who  went  in  5,550  were  buried  there  in  un 
known  graves.  They  sleep  peacefully,  awaiting  the  resurrection  morn.  This  did 
not  include  any  but  our  own  number,  for  over  6,000  Union  soldiers  died 
while  we  were  there  and  were  buried  in  a  little  more  than  five  months.  At 
last  when  our  doom  seemed  sealed  and  fate  with  its  shadowy  wings  seemed 
to  settle  clown  upon  us,  we  one  morning  awakened  to  the  fact  that  we  'were 
not  forgotten.  From  the  little  gate  in  the  lower  part  of  the  stockade  two 
Union  officers  entered.  At  first  we  could  not  believe  our  own  senses  and  many 
a  bony  hand  was  brushed  across  the  eyes  of  its  emaciated  owner  as  we  once  more 
beheld  the  uniform  worn  by  our  country's  defenders.  With  tottering  footsteps 
we  gathered  closely,  and  with  bowed  heads  we  listened*- 'as  those  men  proclaimed 


330     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

to  us  that  the  hour  of  our  deliverance  was  near.  God  bless  them!  They  said 
but  Tittle  for  tears  choked  their  utterance  when  they  beheld  all  that  was  left  of 
our  once  strong  and  noble  braves.  But  this  they  told  us.  Think  of  it,  my  Com 
rades  ;  some  of  our  boys  who  had  succeeded  in  tunneling  out  had  apprised  our 
government  of  our  situation.  Not  deeming  it  policy  to  exchange  they  had  gotten 
permission  of  the  Rebel  government  to  send  us  relief  in  the  wray  of  tents,  blankets 
and  overcoats.  In  fact,  all  kinds  of  clothing  that  we  should  need.  This  they 
forwarded  on  to  Salisbury  in  the  early  part  of  the  winter.  But  not  until  the  last 
of  January  did  we  receive  any  part  of  it  and  then  only  part  of  the  tents.  The 
greater  part  of  what  was  sent  they  used  for  their  own  soldiers.  When  the  offi 
cers  came  there  remained  but  one  blanket  to  every  three  of  us  and  a  few  coats 
and  blouses.  These  had  lain  there  while  most  of  the  boys  were  covered  with  a 
few  miserable  rags  not  near  sufficient  to  hide  their  emaciated  frames,  without 
reference  to  warmth  or  comfort.  To  make  a  long  story  short  the  officers  dis 
tributed  what  remained  to  the  most  needy  and  with  cheering  words  left  us,  anct 
but  for  the  relief  they  had  brought,  we  in  our  dazed  condition,  certainly  would 
have  thought  we  had  been  dreaming.  Time  passed  on  until  three  or  four  weeks 
longer  without  much  change  until  one  night  we  were  drawn  up  in  the  stockade 
and  told  that  we  were  to  be  paroled  the  next  morning.  We  were  to  draw  five 
days'  rations.  This  was  two  loaves  of  wheat  bread  something  like  our  hardtack 
and  about  as  much  as  our  boys  would  draw  for  two  days'  rations.  That  with  a 
quarter  of  a  pound  of  fresh  pork  was  what  we  drew,  and  it  was  the  only  wheat 
bread  I  saw  in  the  South.  We  did  not  sleep  much  that  night.  How  could  we? 
Early  next  morning  we  were  again  drawn  up  in  the  stockade  to  listen  to  the  read 
ing  of  the  parole  and  told  that  we  must  sign  it  at  Goldsborough.  After  the  read 
ing  we  that  could  crawl  were  marched  out  with  a  guard  in  front  of  us.  There 
was  no  need  of  one  elsewhere,  for  our  faces  were  set  as  a  flint  northward.  Thus 
we  proceeded  on  our  first  day's  march  to  Greensboro.  At  first  I  was  obliged  to 
walk  with  two  canes  and  tottered  like  one  bent  with  the  infirmities  of  age.  We 
went  but  a  short  distance  that  day  although  we  strained  every  nerve  to  go  as  far 
as  we  could.  Perhaps  we  got  five  miles  from  Salisbury.  We  camped  at  night 
in  a  piece  of  woods  without  tent  or  blanket,  lying  on  the  cold  damp  earth,  but 
we  had  good  fires  and  were  on  our  road  to  liberty.  This  brought  sleep  to  our 
eyes  and  we  murmured  not.  Towards  morning  it  began  to  rain  and  get  colder. 
This  was  in  March  and  when  we  awoke  the  earth  was  covered  with  ice,  the 
streams  swollen  and  the  bridges  gone.  Thus  again  our  condition  was  deplorable. 
After  we  had  gotten  warm  by  a  good  fire  and  eaten  some  breakfast  we  felt  bet 
ter  and  concluded  to  proceed.  We  soon  came  to  a  place  where  we  must  cross 
the  swollen  waters  of  a  stream.  The  Rebels  told  us  the  bridges  were  gone  for 
15  miles  each  way  and  we  must  cross  on  a  kind  of  a  railroad  bridge  over  a  deep 
place.  You  could  not  call  it  a  bridge  and  still  it  formed  a  passageway.  It  was 
something  like  our  trestle  works,  only  the  ties  were  about  four  or  five  feet  apart. 
This  bridge,  if  you  may  call  it  such,  spanned  a  chasm  125  feet  deep,  so  we  were 
told  by  the  Rebs.  It  was  filled  at  the  bottom  with  enormous  great  sharp  rocks 
around  which  the  boiling  waters  of  the  swollen  floods  rushed  with  terrific  roar. 
The  Bridge  from  bluff  to  bluff  was  something  over  200  feet,  covered  with  ice  from 
the  recent  storm.  It  was  impossible  to  walk  and  the  only  way  to  do  was  to  crawl 
across  on  the  stringers.  This  was  slow  and  tedious.  Weak  as  I  was  I  knew  I 


Horrors  of  Rebel  Prisons  331 

could  never  reach  the  other  shore,  unless  the  ice  thawed  off,  so  I  sat  down  to 
watch.  I  think  that  without  doubt  one  of  every  12  fell  into  the  flood  below  and 
was  forever  lost.  About  noon  the  sun  and  the  incessant  crawling  had  dried  the 
rails  and  I  knew  I  must  make  one  great  effort  to  cross.  With  my  mind  made  up 
I  started.  How  I  hung  to  those  rails !  Slowly  I  approached  the  center  of  the 
bridge,  not  daring  to  turn  my  eyes  either  way,  I  strove  with  all  the  powers  with 
in  me  to  gain  the  other  shore.  Just  at  that  moment  we  heard  the  whistle  of  a 
coming  train,  and  to  add  to  our  terror,  our  unfeeling  guards  began  to  curse  and 
swear  for  us  to  get  off  the  track  or  be  run  over.  To  be  sure  it  was  a  single  track 
and  they  were  coming  whistling  and  puffing  right  into  our  faces.  I  thought  they 
would  not  dare  to  run  onto  the  bridge  on  their  own  account,  and  if  they  did 
I  would  not  drop  from  the  track  thus  to  allow  them  to  scare  me  to  certain  death 
at  this  point.  Three  fell  from  the  track  in  front  of  me,  but  I  dared  not  even  look 
after  them  for  fear  I  should  follow.  The  train  came  up  close  and  stopped ;  the 
Rebels  kept  howling  and  cursing,  but  I  reached  the  shore  safe  with  a  number  of 
others,  and  the  train  passed  on.  That  was  a  happy  moment.  I  can  never  tell 
my  feelings  of  joy  at  the  moment  when  I  first  stood  on  shore. 

Finally  all  were  across  and  we  of  the  Forty-fifth  and  Forty-eighth  Penn 
sylvania  concluded  to  shirk  for  ourselves,  to  find  our  own  way  to  Greensboro  in 
time  to  take  transportation  with  the  rest  of  the  command  for  Goldsborough, 
where  we  were  to  get  our  parole.  Accordingly  we  set  off.  The  first  day  we  came 
to  a  patch  of  flat  turnips.  The  turnips  had  not  been  gathered  and  being  of  enor 
mous  growth  we  helped  ourselves  to  one  apiece.  It  was  all  that  we  couFd  carry 
and  we  then  proceeded  to  darky  shanties  nearby.  We  had  reached  the  railroad 
again  and  we  found  that  this  station  was  called  Thomasville.  By  this  time  we 
were  about  300  strong.  We  spent  the  night  with  the  negroes  and  kept  shady. 
Early  next  morning  a  train  stopped  at  the  little  station,  which  consisted  of  an 
empty  blacksmith  shop  and  two  or  three  empty  houses,  a  water  tank,  etc.  The 
train  was  switched  and  the  engine  moved  off  taking  with  it  all  the  trainmen  and 
guards.  We  investigated  and  found  it  was  a  supply  train  coming  from  the 
South  going  to  the  front.  It  had  on  board  140  Union  officers,  prisoners  of  war, 
taking  them  to  Goldsborough  to  be  paroled  or  exchanged.  They  told  us  that  a 
down  train  had  jumped  the  track  a  few  miles  away  and  the  engine  and  guards 
had  gone  to  assist  them.  Seeing  our  condition  they,  told  us  to  help  ourselves, 
and  we  did.  We  carried  away  most  of  the  sugar,  molasses  and  sugar  cured 
hams,  bacon,  etc.,  that  they  had  on  board.  We  worked  hard  taking  our  stuff  to  the 
shanties  until  we  heard  the  whistling  of  the  returning  engine.  Then  we  made 
good  our  escape.  We  expected  to  be  followed  but  our  officers  told  the  Rebs  that 
we  were  1,000  strong  and  all  armed,  and  that  they  had  better  not  follow  us. 
After  blessing  us  with  all  the  curses  imaginable,  they  went  on. 

My  captain,  L.  D.  Seely,  was  one  of  the  prisoners  on  the  train  from  which 
we  took  our  timely  supplies.  After  the  train  had  gone  we  returned  to  the 
shanties,  the  darkies  cooked  and  we  >ate  and  rested.  Oh,  how  we  enjoyed  our 
selves  !  We  took  no  thought  of  the  morrow  in  our  supreme  content,  and  I  be 
lieve  that  those  two  or  three  days  that  we  spent  with  the  darkies  at  Thomasville, 
saved  our  lives. 

Knowing  that  the  main  line  must  be  nearly  to  its  destination  we  thought  we 
must  make  a  start.  We  found  that  a  long  train  of  box  cars  would  stop  at 


332     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Thomasville  for  wood  and  water  on  the  night  of  the  third  day  about  ten  o'clock 
in  the  evening.  So  we  hid  behind  the  tank  and  along  the  opposite  side  of  the 
track.  When  the  train  stopped  we  climbed  on  top  of  the  cars,  keeping  very 
still  and  lay  down.  We  were  lucky  and  were  not  discovered  as  it  was  very  dark. 
In  a  short  time  it  began  to  snow  and  we  were  covered  up.  We  rode  all  night  in 
this  way  and  in  the  morning  arrived  just  in  time  to  fall  in  with  the  rest  and 
draw  rations,  the  main  line  having  got  in  the  night  before. 

Ofi,  but  those  Rebels  were  mad  because  we  stole  our  ride,  but  it  was  of  no 
use;  we  had  beat  them  once.  Nothing  more  occurred  worthy  of  note  until  we 
reached  Goldsborough  at  about  five  o'clock  the  same  day.  We  went  into  camp 
about  a  mile  from  town  and  the  next  morning  signed  the  parole.  Towards 
night  we  were  marched  out  and  lay  waiting  until  near  midnight  when  we  were 
again  on  our  way.  Next  day  we  reached  our  lines,  ten  miles  below  Wilmington. 
I  cannot  describe  to  you  our  feelings  when  we  were  so  warmly  received  in  Gen 
eral  'Sherman's  camp.  Picture  a  poor,  way-worn,  straggling  few,  leaning  on 
canes  with  bent  and  tottering  steps,  eyes  deep  sunk,  worn  and  wasted  forms, 
hair  long  and  disheveled  reaching  far  down  over  our  shoulders ;  whiskers  wild 
and  unkempt !  Suffice  it  to  say  we  seemed  dissolved  in  thankfulness  when  we 
once  more  rested  our  weary  heads  beneath  the  dear  Old  Flag.  But  little  remains 
to  be  said.  Thus  ends  the  most  bitter  page  of  my  life's  history,  with  those  my 
prison  days. 

JAMES  F.  DEUEL, 
Caton,  Steuben  County,  N.  Y. 
Late  of  Company  H,  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteers. 


MY  EXPERIENCE  IN  LIBBEY  AND  SALIS 
BURY  PRISONS 

BY  ALEXANDER  DUNCAN,  COMPANY  C. 

I  enlisted  at  Norristown,  Pa.,  on  the  30th  of  July,  1864,  the  day  of  the  burn 
ing  of  Chambersburg  and  of  the  explosion  of  the  mine  at  Petersburg.  This  was 
a  sad  day  for  the  North.  I  joined  the  Forty-fifth  in  the  latter  part  of  August  in 
the  lines  south  of  Petersburg  and  a  little  east  of  the  Weldon  Railroad.  Captain 
Gregg  was  in  command.  I  was  attached  to  Company  C  of  which  B.  C.  Mc- 
Manigal  was  captain. 

Nothing  of  importance  occurred  until  the  29th  of  September,  on  the  even 
ing  of  which  day  we  pulled  out  from  the  lines  and  marched  in  an  easterly  direc 
tion  for  about  five  miles,  then  camped  for  the  night.  Next  afternoon  we  re 
traced  our  march  of  the  day  before  and  continued  going  west  until  we  reached 
the  Squirrel  Level  Road  and  then  turned  south  for  a  short  distance,  halting  in  a 
piece  of  woods  about  a  half  mile  in  width.  At  this  time  a  part  of  the  Fifth 
Corps  was  engaged  in  attacking  a  line  of  earthworks  about  half  a  mile  south 
of  where  we  were  halted.  In  a  short  time  they  captured  the  works,  together 
with  about  100  prisoners  and  two  pieces  of  artillery.  When  we  halted  we  were 
told  to  rest  but  not  to  leave  our  ground.  On  the  word  "rest,"  Jacob  Gear,  my 
rear  rank  man,  sat  down  on  a  small  knoll  and  I  went  about  two  paces  farther 


Libbey  and  Salisbury  Prisons  333 

and  lay  down.  In  about  a  minute  afterwards  the  Rebels  fired  their  last  shot  from 
the  earthworks  which  were  being  stormed.  The  shot  came  along  just  above  the 
heads  of  the  men,  who  fortunately,  were  sitting  or  lying  down,  until  it  reached 
Jacob  Gear.  It  was  then  inclining  towards  the  ground.  It  struck  Gear  on  the 
back  of  his  head.  Passing  onward  it  struck  another  man,  breaking  his  leg  and 
then  struck  the  ground  a  few  feet  further.  We  lifted  Gear  from  where  he  had 
fallen  and  finding  that  he  was  still  alive,  he  was  assisted  to  the  rear  for  surgical 
aid.  I  saw  the  shot  which  struck  him;  it  was  conical  in  shape  and  about  18 
pounds  in  weight.  That  he  was  not  instantly  killed  was  owing  to  the  fact  that 
he  was  leaning  with  his  back  against  the  knoll  and  with  his  head  inclined.  He 
wore  a  soft  felt  hat  and  the  shot  cut  a  hole  in  it  about  four  inches  in  length.  I 
examined  the  hat  and  gave  it  to  him  before  he  was  led  awray.  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  any  one  else  during  the  war,  survived  a  blow  on  the  head 
from  an  18  pound  cannon  shot,  but  Gear  recovered  after  a  few  months  in  the 
hospital. 

Just  after  this  incident  we  fell  in  and  marched  off,  passing  the  captured 
prisoners  and  the  earthworks.  We  went  in  search  of  the  enemy  who  had  re 
treated.  Their  position  was  found  at  last  and  preparations  were  made  to  attack 
them.  We  formed  a  line  of  battle,  advanced  through  a  piece  of  woods,  sprang 
over  a  fence  at  the  edge,  charged  across  a  large  field  and  dropping  down  behind 
a  fence  on  the  far  side,  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  the  Rebels.  After  this  had 
continued  for  about  20  minutes,  a  panic  occurred  among  the  Fifty-first  New 
York  Volunteers,  who  were  in  line  on  our  right.  They  fled  along  our  rear  and 
the  panic  spread  along  the  whole  line  to  the  extreme  left  and  there  was  a 
stampede  to  the  rear.  The  color  sergeant  of  the  Forty-fifth  stood  his  ground 
and  Colonel  Gregg  and  other  officers  succeeded  in  rallying  about  70  of  the  men 
in  line  with  the  colors.  We  opened  fire  again  but  in  a  little  while,  Colonel 
Gregg,  finding  that  we  were  quite  unsupported  and  that  the  enemy  were  closing 
in,  said:  "Boys!  it  is  no  use,  let  every  man  look  out  for  himself!"  This  we 
proceeded  to  do  without  delay  but  in  vain.  In  less  than  one  hour  we  were  all 
prisoners.  I  was  captured  by  some  of  Wade  Hampton's  cavalrymen  just  at 
dark  and  marched  to  the  place  where  the  prisoners  were  being  collected  and 
placed  under  guard. 

It  was  now  dark  and  nearly  all  of  the  prisoners  had  been  brought  in.  I 
heard  Colonel  Gregg  trying  to  console  the  men.  "Boys!"  said  he,  "Keep  a  stiff 
upper  lip,  all  will  be  well  with  us  yet."  The  Rebels  now  came  among  us  and 
helped  themselves  to  our  hats,  overcoats,  blankets  and  everything  they  fancied, 
after  which  they  marched  us  off  to  Petersburg,  where  we  arrived  at  or  about 
midnight  and  were  placed  on  an  island  in  the  Appomattox  River.  I  laid  down 
under  a  tree  but  it  soon  began  to  rain  and  continued  to  rain  until  the  afternoon. 
The  Rebels  then  helped  themselves  to  anything  we  had  left  over  from  the  plunder 
of  the  night  before,  so  that  soon  we  had  nothing  but  the  clothes  we  wore.  When 
I  saw  what  they  were  doing,  I  looked  around  and  seeing  a  Rebel  soldier,  who 
was  looking  on,  I  showed  him  my  blanket  and  asked  him  to  give  me  some 
bread  for  it.  He  went  away  and  soon  came  back  again  with  a  pound  loaf,  for 
which  I  gave  him  my  blanket.  After  they  had  finished  searching  us,  we  were 
marched  into  a  large  brick  building  near  by  and  kept  there  until  the  next  after 
noon.  We  suffered  greatly  as  there  were  so  many  of  us  that  there  was  not 


334     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

room  for  all  to  lie  down  and  the  floor  was  in  a  filthy  condition  from  long  use 
without  cleaning. 

At  about  3  P.  M.,  we  were  turned  out  of  the  building,  marched  outside  the 
city  to  a  field  and  waited  there  until  about  1  A.  M.,  when  a  train  of  freight  cars 
came  along  and  took  us  into  Richmond.  We  were  placed  in  a  large  brick 
building  and  remained  there  until  the  afternoon.  We  were  then  searched  care 
fully  for  any  money  still  in  our  possession  and  a  promise  was  made  that  any 
money  that  we  gave  up  to  them  would  be  restored  to  us  when  we  were  paroled 
or  exchanged.  Some  rations  were  then  issued  to  us,  after  which  we  were 
marched  outside  the  city,  put  on  board  a  freight  train  of  box  cars  and  started 
for  Salisbury,  N.  C.  In  each  car  were  60  prisoners,  besides  four  guards  who  sat 
at  the  doors,  which  were  kept  open  for  ventilation.  There  were  also  a  number 
of  guards  on  top  of  the  cars.  We  were  so  crowded  that  we  could  not  lie  down. 
We  had  to  stand  up  or  else  sit  on  our  heels.  We  reached  Greensboro,  N.  C.,  next 
evening  and  remained  there  until  the  next  forenoon,  sleeping  on  the  ground  in 
front  of  the  court  house  during  the  night.  We  resumed  our  journey  by  train  and 
at  8  P.  M.,  October  5th,  arrived  at  Salisbury  and  entered  the  prison. 

I  slept  under  a  tree  during  the  night  and  in  the  morning  inspected  the  place 
which  was  to  be  my  home  for  the  next  four  months  and  eighteen  days.  I  found 
that  about  eight  acres  were  enclosed  with  a  high  board  fence.  There  were 
seven  wells  of  water  in  the  enclosure  but  no  pumps  or  other  means  of  getting  the 
water  except  by  letting  down  a  tin  cup  tied  to  a  string  and  as  the  wells  were 
near  to  each  other  only  a  small  quantity  of  water  could  be  gotten  from  any  one 
of  them.  There  wTas  one  frame  and  one  brick  building  which  were  used  for  hos 
pitals.  Besides  these  there  were  a  few  small  brick  buildings,  one  of  which  was 
used  for  a  bakery  and  one  as  a  morgue.  About  20  oak  trees  were  in  the  en 
closure.  Rain  fell  the  day  after  our  arrival  and  from  that  time  the  nights  were 
chilly  and  sometimes  very  cold,  so  as  we  had  no  shelter,  overcoats  or  blankets,  we 
could  get  scarcely  any  sleep  except  in  the  daytime  when  it  was  warmer. 

After  we  had  been  about  three  weeks  in  the  prison  without  shelter  and  with 
no  prospect  of  getting  any  from  our  gaolers,  I  held  a  consultation  with  eight 
other  comrades  of  Company  C  and  the  result  was  that  we  decided  to  dig  a  hole 
in  the  ground,  put  a  roof  over  it  and  fit  it  up  as  well  as  possible  for  a  dwelling 
place.  The  hole  we  dug  was  about  7x12  feet  and  the  depth  three  and  one-half 
feet.  We  raised  one  side  about  two  feet  higher  than  the  other,  so  as  to  give 
the  roof  a  slope.  We  made  'the  rafters  of  fence  rails  and  branches  of  trees  and 
these  we  covered  with  brush.  On  top  of  the  brush  we  put  six  inches  of  blue 
clay.  In  the  center  of  the  lower  side  of  the  roof  we  built  a  fireplace  and  chim 
ney.  At  one  of  the  lower  corners  of  the  roof  we  left  a  hole  large  enough  to 
enter  and  go  out.  Having  finished  our  house,  and  it  took  about  six  weeks  to 
do  so  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  rafters  and  our  lack  of  tools,  we 
moved  into  it.  The  furniture  consisted  of  a*dozen  bricks,  which  served  us  a^ 
seats  by  day  and  pillows  by  night.  The  heavy  and  cold  rains  had  now  set  in, 
lasting  one  or  two  days  at  a  time,  flooding  us  out  of  our  house  sometimes,  in 
spite  of  our  bailing.  As  soon  as  the  rain  ceased  we  would  scrape  the  mud  off 
the  floor,  put  on  a  fire,  when  we  had  any  fuel,  and  make  ourselves  as  comfort 
able  as  circumstances  would  permit. 


Libbey  and  Salisbury  Prisons  335 

I  will  now  give  the  names  of  the  eight  comrades  who  occupied  the  house 
with  me  and  tell  what  happened  to  them: 

John  Bovel,  a  Scotch  sailor,  got  work  in  the  bakery  and  having  enough  to 
eat  survived  the  imprisonment;  James  Flannery  and  Michael  Brophy,  Irish 
Roman  Catholics,  went  out  of  the  prison  to  a  camp  which  was  in  charge  of  a 
priest  and  I  saw  them  no  more;  George  Rodis,  a  musician,  whose  home  was 
in  Philadelphia,  died  in  December;  Charles  Burns,  an  Irish  sailor,  no  home, 
died  in  December;  Michael  or  Patrick  Regan,  a  shoemaker,  home  in  Philadel 
phia,  died  in  December;  Joseph  Taylor,  an  Englishman  and  machinist,  had  a 
wife  and  children  in  England,  died  in  January;  John  Murphy,  a  veteran,  had 
been  wounded  in  the  Battle  of  Antietam,  died  in  February. 

The  death  of  these  comrades  was  due  to  the  privations  of  life  in  the  prison. 
We  never  had  enough  to  eat  and  on  two  occasions  were  48  hours  without  food. 

An  exchange  of  prisoners  having  been  agreed  upon  about  800  of  us  were 
marched  out  to  the  railroad  track  about  100  yards  from  the  prison  gate  to  take 
the  train  to  Richmond.  It  was  on  the  22d  of  February.  We  waited  there  all 
day  but  no  train.  The  weather  was  very  cold  and  night  was  coming  on.  The 
officer  in  charge  of  us,  seeing  our  pitiable  state,  had  some  old  tents  brought 
out  and  making  us  lie  down  on  the  frozen  ground,  in  rows  and  close  together, 
spread  the  tents  over  us  and  so  we  passed  the  night.  In  the  morning,  John 
Murphy,  who  had  lain  beside  me,  was  unable  to  get  up,  so  they  carried  him  into 
the  prison  and  there  he  died.  The  train  came  about  11  A.  M.,  and  we  got  on 
board.  The  cars  were  box  freight  and  we  were  packed  in  almost  to  suffocation. 
I  got  out  as  soon  as  possible  and  climbed  on  to  the  roof  of  the  car  and  laid 
down,  using  the  brakeman's  foot  board  for  a  pillow7  and  so  I  made  the  trip  to 
Richmond.  It  rained  or  sleeted  nearly  all  the  time,  about  44  hours.  The  train 
moved  slowly  and  stopped  often.  We  reached  Richmond  at  daylight  on  the  25th 
of  February.  Twenty-eight  men  died  during  the  journey.  We  were  put  into 
Libbey  prison  and  I  staid  there  until  the  13th  of  March. 

On  the  morning  of  that  day,  about  800  of  us  went  down  the  James  River 
on  a  steamer  to  Varina  Landing,  where  we  went  ashore.  An  escort  of  our  own 
cavalry  was  on  hand  and  they  accompanied  us  across  the  neck  of  land  to  where 
the  steamer  "New  York"  was  awaiting  us.  We  arrived  at  Annapolis  the  next 
forenoon  and  went  ashore.  The  spectators  were  horrified  at  our  ghastly  appear 
ance.  I  remained  at  Parole  Camp  five  days  and  having  gotten  a  hot  bath,  new 
clothes,  two  months'  pay  and  a  furlough  for  30  days,  went  to  Philadelphia.  On 
the  expiration  of  my  furlough  I  rejoined  the  Forty-fifth  at  City  Point  and  con 
tinued  with  them  until  we  were  paid  off  at  Harrisburg,  July  22d,  1865. 

I  have  omitted  many  things  of  great  interest  and  have  been  as  brief  as  I 
could  in  narrating  some  of  the  events  which  I  witnessed  during  my  connection 
with  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry.  I  have  a  vivid  recollec 
tion  of  Salisbury  prison  and  of  the  state  of  affairs  there  during  my  unwilling 
stay  in  that  dreadful  place  and  I  feel  grateful  to  the  kind  Providence  who 
watched  over  me  and  restored  me  to  liberty  again. 


336     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


MY  EXPERIENCE  IN  PRISON  LIFE 

By  E.  W.  McEijROY. 

September  30th,  1864,  was  a  beautiful  day.  We  broke  camp  in  the  morning, 
marched  around  considerably  and  finally  came  to  Pegram's  or  Peeble's  Farm, 
where  we  lay  on  our  arms,  watching  two  white  horses  flying  to  and  fro.  At 
last  a  quiet  "Fall  in"  was  given  and  we  charged  the  enemy,  doing  good  work 
at  first,  but  the  tide  turned.  It  seems  our  left  was  not  connected  and  quite  an 
opening  existed.  I  shall  never  forget  when  I  looked  down  a  hill  and  what  I  sup 
posed  to  be  reinforcements  were  the  Johnnies  in  our  rear,  and  as  I  supposed, 
all  around  us.  So  we  gave  them  all  we  could  until  our  ammunition  gave  out, 
after  which  we  broke.  I  managed  to  get  into  an  old  blacksmith  shop  with 
other  comrades,  Colonel  Gregg  among  us.  The  Colonel  broke  his  sword  into 
pieces.  The  Johnnies  closed  in  on  us  and  a  captain  commanded  the  colonel  to 

surrender,  when  Colonel  Gregg  replied,  "I  am  a  colonel.  G d you,  I  will 

surrender  to  my  equal."  And  he  did,  saying,  "There,  colonel,  is  my  belt  and 

scabbard.  I  lost  my  d old  sword."  A  short  time  after  our  men  who  had 

not  been  surrounded  returned  and  made  things  lively  for  the  Johnnies,  drove 
them  back,  capturing  the  ground  we  had  lost,  but  we  were  hurried  to  the  rear. 
In  this  fight  the  regiment  lost  every  commissioned  officer  it  had,  except  Lieu 
tenant  John  Gelbach  of  Company  K,  and  he  happened  to  be  sick  and  did  not 
go  in  or  I  suppose  he  would  have  been  with  us.  I  know  of  none  left  of  the 
regiment,  but  the  regular  detail  and  the  canteen  detail,  one  of  which  lives  to 
day  in  our  midst  and  every  now  and  then  I  make  a  demand  for  my  canteen. 

We  were  run  up  to  some  kind  of  a  pen  alongside  of  a  mill  race  until  next 
morning,  Sunday,  where  we  could  look  down  into  Petersburg  and  see  the  people 
going  to  church.  It  occurred  to  me  that  those  people  were  going  to  their  church 
to  pray  to  God  for  the  success  of  the  Confederate  arms  and  at  our  homes  our 
people  were  praying  to  the  same  God  for  the  success  of  our  cause.  In  my  mind 
the  Lord  could  not  answer  both. 

An  incident  occurred  on  our  way  to  the  city.  Passing  along  the  road  there 
happened  an  old  couple  coming  from  a  small  brick  house  standing  back  to  the 
left.  I  said  to  the  old  gentleman,  "Daddy,  you  got  the  whole  Yankee  army." 
The  old  gentleman  replied,  smiling,  "Yes,  my  Lord,  worlds  and  worlds  of  them 
Yanks." 

October  2d.  We  left  Petersburg  in  the  morning.  We  marched  as  near  as 
I  can  tell  about  two  miles  to  the  railroad,  where  we  took  the  cars  for  Richmond, 
arriving  about  midnight.  We  were  marched  to  Pemberton  prison,  where  we 
remained  until  next  day. 

October  3d.  We  were  counted  out  like  hogs  or  sheep  by  the  hundreds, 
taken  to  another  part  of  the  building  where  we  had  to  disrobe  as  naked  as  the 
day  we  were  born,  our  clothing  lying  before  us.  The  thieves,  or  whatever  you 
may  call  them,  would  take  all  our  money,  watches  or  whatever  they  wanted, 
and  if  you  had  a  garment,  haversack,  hat,  cap  or  anything  they  wanted,  they 
took  it,  giving  you  a  receipt  for  the  same.  This  receipt  I  still  hold.  George 


My  Experience  in  Prison  Life  337 

B.  Haynes  of  Company  B  and  I  got  wind  of  what  was  going  on  and  we  hung 
back  and  decided  to  destroy  our  money.  All  new  legal  tenders.  So  we  con 
cealed  some  little  about  us  where  they  failed  to  examine.  The  balance  we  tore 
up  into  our  caps  in  bits  not  larger  than  your  finger  nail  and  emptied  same  out 
of  the  third  or  fourth-story  window,  so  that  its  falling  resembled  a  snow  squall. 
In  a  few  minutes  some  of  the  officers  (and  among  them  a  deserter  from  our 
army)  came  up  in  our  room  and  offered  $100  in  gold  to  the  person  who  would 
tell  who  tore  up  the  money.  Comrade  George  B.  Haynes,  I  think,  tore  up  five, 
not  less  than  four  new  twenty  dollar  notes ;  I  tore  up  four  and  Surgeon  Robert 
Carroll  tore  up  five  tens.  Is  it  any  wonder  it  snowed  on  the  pavement  below? 
So  after  we  were  all  put  through  a  thorough  search  we  were  transported  across 
the  street  to  Libbey,  where  we  received  our  first  ration  of  corn  bread  in  Rebeldom. 

October  4th.  Marched  from  Libbey  over  the  river  to  Manchester.  Took  the 
cars  for  Danville.  On  the  cars  all  day  and  night. 

October  5th.  Arrived  at  Danville  at  about  10  A.  M.  Changed  cars  for 
Greensboro ;  arrived  at  6  P.  M.  Marched  about  a  mile  in  the  country.  Went 
to  camp  for  the  night.  Raining  and  cold  and  no  shelter.  All  our  dog  tents  and 
blankets  were  taken  at  Richmond. 

October  6th.  Took  the  cars  at  Greensboro  for  Salisbury  via  Milford.  On 
the  road  all  day  and  night.  Arrived  at  Salisbury  on  the  day  of  the  7th  at  2  P.  M. 

October  7th.  Marched  out  to  camp.  No  tents  nor  shelter  of  any  kind  ex 
cept  the  old  factory  and  nine  other  huts  afterward  used  as  hospitals  for  our 
sick,  and  they  were  full  at  that  time.  On  our  arrival  we  were  greeted  with  that 
old  familiar  yell,  "Fresh  Fish !"  "Fresh  Fish !"  We  had  quite  a  reception  and 
had  many  questions  to  answer.  The  day  was  fine. 

October  8th.  In  camp  at  Salisbury,  conversing  with  the  older  prisoners  as 
to  where  and  how  we  were  taken.  Received  our  rations,  which  were  fair  to 
commence.  In  the  after  part  of  the  day  there  was  a  sudden  change  in  the  tem 
perature  and  no  blankets  or  shelter.  Considerable  suffering. 

October  9th.  Still  in  camp.  Received  our  rations.  Still  cold  and  miserable 
with  high  winds. 

October  10th.  Still  in  the  prison.  Received  our  rations.  Weather  more 
moderate. 

October  llth,  12th,  13th  and  14th.  No  changes.  Weather  fair  and  warm. 
Received  our  regular  rations. 

October  15th  to  28th.  Weather  was  fine.  Received  our  regular  rations  each 
day. 

On  or  about  October  15th,  1864,  I  saw  a  lieutenant  of  a  New  York  regiment 
have  in  his  hands  a  shirt  he  had  washed  and  was  in  the  act  of  hanging  it  upon 
a  peach  tree  fully  15  to  20  feet  from  the  dead  line,  when  one  of  the  "young 
bloods"  shot  him  through  the  heart.  I  think  the  "blood"  got  a  furlough. 

October  17th,  1864.  On  this  day  I  ran  the  guard  line  that  was  between  our 
officers  and  the  men  of  rank  to  make  arrangements  for  a  break  for  liberty 
when  someone  let  it  out  and  that  same  day  they  took  the  officers  out  and  sent 
them  back  to  Danville,  Va.,  where  they  were  kept  until  exchanged  or  paroled. 


338     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Oclober  29th  to  31st.  Rainy  and  cold  weather.  Received  our  rations,  but 
short. 

November  1st.  Clear  and  warm.  Our  rations  were  a  small  piece  of  raw 
meat,  no  bread.  Many  of  the  older  prisoners  sick  and  many  dying. 

November  2d.  Our  rations  consisted  of  a  little  soup  and  very  small  piece 
of  meat.  No  bread.  Weather  good. 

November  3d.  Weather  fine.  Received  a  small  ration  of  meat  and  bread: 
Considerable  talk  of  parole  and  exchange.  The  muggers  made  an  attack  on 
some  "Fresh  Fish"  but  they  all  escaped  punishment.  The  Rebs  promise  pro 
tection. 

November  4th.  The  weather  fine.  Nothing  to  eat  until  after  dark  when  we 
received  bread.  More  depredations  by  the  muggers  and  more  talk  of  exchange. 
Sick  list  growing  and  many  dying. 

November  5th.  Weather  fine.  For  our  rations  we  received  a  little  soup 
and  one-half  pint  flour.  Half  of  the  boys  had  nothing  to  receive  their  flour  in 
so  those  who  had  caps  pushed  in  the  crown  from  the  outside,.  Others  used 
their  blouse  shirts.  Some  had  cans  and  many  had  other  ways.  No  doubt  the 
reader  would  like  to  know  how  they  baked  their  flour.  I  will  tell  you  how  we 
did  it.  In  a  division  there  were  supposed  to  be  1,000  men.  In  each  division 
there  were  ten  squads;  to  each  division  one  quartermaster  sergeant  to  each 
squad.  We  received  our  rations  from  them.  Some  few  of  us  had  an  old  tomato 
can.  The  cans  were  in  use  in  rotation.  We  would  put  the  flour  in  the  can  and 
water  with  it  until  we  had  a  paste  as  we  make  at  home.  We  would  make  fire 
of  old  railroad  ties,  the  wood  of  which  was  cut  and  made  fine  without  the  use 
of  an  ax.  We  would  make  fire  over  a  hole  dug  in  the  ground.  The  fire  would 
make  the  hole  hot.  At  the  same  time  we  would  make  a  cake  of  mud  large 
enough  to  cover  the  hole.  We  would  draw  the  fire  from  the  hole  and  take  our 
cap  and  fan  the  ashes  and  dust  from  the  hole ;  pour  our  paste  into  the  hole,  cover 
it  with  our  mud  cake,  draw  the  hot  coals  over  the  top  watching  it  very  closely. 
As  soon  as  the  mud  cake  that  was  put  on  top  would  puff  up  the  bread  would 
be  done  and  better  than  any  pound  cake  you  eat  at  home.  Ask  any  of  the  boys 
who  were  there.  As  I  told  you,  we  had  no  ax  to  cut  our  wood.  I  will  tell  you 
how  we  did  that.  Every  person  has  seen  railroad  ties  taken  out.  In  them  you 
will  find  some  spikes.  When  you  examine  you  will  find  that  they  are  on  the 
wedge  order  at  the  point.  These  we  first  had  to  get  loose  and  out  of  the  ties. 
When  we  had  them  out  we  could  use  a  stone  for  a  sledge  and  split  all  the  ties 
we  got  and  that  was  not  many. 

I  will  tell  you  how  I  remained  fat  through  my  whole  prison  life.  First 
we  never  saw  a  grain  of  coffee  and  as  I  was  one  of  my  mother's  seven  boys  I 
longed  for  coffee.  In  prison  we  used  to  go  out  with  two  guards  to  the  creek  for 
water,  having  a  flour  barrel  with  holes  through  it  and  a  pole  so  we  would  get  the 
only  pure  water  we  got  in  the  pen.  In  going  to  the  creek  we  had  occasion  to  pass 
a  woods  and  the  road  was  cut  quite  deep  through  the  woods.  On  a  hill  there 
the  acorns  would  roll  down  in  the  gutter.  These  acorns  looked  inviting  and  I 
asked  the  guards  to  allow  me  to  gather  some  and  they  did  so.  When  I  got  to 
camp  I  was  no  time  in  roasting  my  acorns  for  coffee.  I  then  had  no  bread  so 
I  boiled  them,  but  had  no  salt  to  put  in  them.  But  I  had  my  coffee  and  boiled 


My  Experience  in  Prison  Life  339 

acorns  and  I  worried  them  down,  but  you  can  imagine  it  was  a  bitter  dose. 
But  let  me  say  to  you,  reader,  I  knew  my  uncle  did  feed  them  to  his  hogs  and 
the  hogs  got  fat  on  them.  Now,  under  the  circumstances,  what  would  you  have 
done — eat  the  acorns  or  starve?  I  ate  them  and  they  did  the  work  for  me  and 
toward  the  last  I  ate  them  raw  and  I  still  live  at  73  years,  but  at  this  age  I 
have  changed  the  bill  of  fare,  but  I  believe  as  I  believe  in  God  that  the  acorns 
pulled  me  through. 

Now,  my  reader,  there  are  few  that  may  credit  what  I  say  and  more  there 
is  none  but  the  one  who  endured  prison  life  who  can.  Now,  what  would  you 
think  if  I  would  tell  you  that  the  sergeant  of  the  squads  would  carry  the  rations 
of  one  hundred  men?  This  you  would  not  credit.  Ask  any  comrade  that  was 
there  and  he  will  swear  to  it.  I  will  tell  you  what  the  sergeant  had  in  his 
pack  on  his  back.  One  hundred  pieces  of  raw  tripe  just  from  the  bullock,  never 
washed.  Each  prisoner  received  a  piece  of  raw  tripe  about  the  size  of  an  ordi 
nary  man's  hand  for  a  day's  ration.  I  will  now  tell  you  how  we  would  man 
age  to  eat  it.  We  would  take  our  ration  of  raw  tripe,  wash  it  nice  and  clean, 
then  make  two  mud  cakes  and  put  the  tripe  between  and  stick  in  the  coals 
and  when  the  mud  ball  would  burst  we  would  pick  off  the  hot  clay,  keep  up  a 
constant  blow  on  the  tripe  and  it  would  peal  as  white  as  snow.  Then  our  draw 
back  was  no  salt.  This  one  thing  had  we  had  in  abundance  would  have  saved 
many  a  poor  soldier's  life.  Salt  and  vegetables  were  what  we  needed  most  of  all. 

November  5th.     Rain  set  in  in  the  evening  and  it  became  very  cold. 

November  6th.  Still  cold  and  raining.  Received  soup  and  raw  tripe.  I 
worked  on  detail  to  build  coffins  but  this  detail  was  sent  into  stockade  as  there 
were  no  more  coffins  used,  allowing  all  to  be  buried  without  coffins  except  Free 
Masons.  They  would  receive  coffins.  In  the  beginning  of  our  confinement  they 
used  plain  rough  board  coffins  but  our  men  were  dying  so  fast  the  coffin  busi 
ness  was  all  canceled.  They  did  take  coffins  for  a  time,  just  to  make  a  show 
for  humanity's  sake  to  take  the  bodies  out,  then  dump  the  bodies  in  the  holes 
and  take  the  same  coffin  back  for  another  until  one  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massa 
chusetts  boys  and  I  discovered  the  game  and  reported  the  same  to  Major  Gee, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  prison.  He  was  not  slow  in  running  us  back  to  the 
stockade. 

November  7th.  Cloudy  and  rainy.  We  received  our  rations  of  soup  and 
flour. 

November  8th.  Cloudy  and  rain  but  warmer.  Nothing  to  eat  but  a  little  raw 
tripe.  We  held  a  sham  election  and  had  quite  a  time.  Considerable  interest  was 
taken.  Abraham  Lincoln  and  General  George  B.  McClellan  were  the  nominees. 
It  was  quite  interesting  and  there  was  a  close  contest,  McClellan  having  a  little 
the  best  of  it.  We  had  some  colored  soldiers  in  the  stockade.  The  colored  men 
all  voted  for  Lincoln  and  this  did  not  suit  the  muggers,  who  were  a  mighty 
rough  set  of  men — cut-throats  from  all  over  the  country,  mostly  from  New  York. 
From  what  I  learned  of  them  they  lived  on  the  top  of  the  pile  and  none  but 
their  gang  could  enter  their  quarters.  They  operated  on  all  batches  of  "fresh 
fish,"  as  the  newcomer  was  called.  These  men  would  go  through  them,  plunder 
and  take  everything  they  had.  They  could  get  anything  they  wanted  from  the 
Johnnies  because  they  had  plenty  of  United  States  greenbacks.  Many  of  this 


340     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

class  bought  their  freedom  when  they  got  in  tight  places.  Some  of  them  were 
tried  by  court  martial  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged  when  the  Rebel  authorities 
interfered  and  took  them  from  the  stockade,  promising  to  hang  them  in  sight 
of  the  prison.  That  was  Major  Gee's  promise  but  when  he  got  them  from 
us  and  out  of  the  stockade  that  was  the  last  we  ever  heard  from  them.  They 
had  money  enough  to  buy  their  freedom  that  they  robbed  our  poor  soldiers  of. 

November  9th.  Still  cloudy  but  warm.  Received  our  long  looked  for  bread 
with  a  relish. 

November  10th.  Warm  and  beautiful  but  nothing  to  eat.  Great  talk  of 
the  election  but  all  quiet. 

November  llth.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  full  rations,  the  first  in  15  days 
— that  is,  full  rations. 

November  12th.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  our  full  rations.  Plenty  of  tall! 
of  parole  and  exchange. 

November  13th.     Stormy  and  cold.     Received  one-half  rations. 

November  14th,  15th,  16th,  17th  and  18th.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  our 
regular  rations. 

November  19th.  Raining,  blowing  and  sleeting,  breaking  immense  limbs  off 
the  trees.  Received  a  ration  of  corn  and  wheat  bread,  mixed  cobs  and  all.  No 
sign  of  parole. 

November  20th.  Raining  and  very  cold.  Sleeting  and  still  breaking  trees. 
Received  a  ration  of  bread  and  small  piece  of  meat.  First  meat  in  nine  days. 

November  21st.  Still  raining  and  very  cold.  Received  a  ration  of  cornbread 
and  soup. 

November  22d.  Still  cloudy  with  snow  sprinkle.  Received  a  ration  of  corn- 
bread.  No  sign  of  parole  or  exchange.  Making  preparations  to  break  prison; 
awaiting  the  removal  of  the  young  bloods  of  boys  of  16  years  who  would  rather 
shoot  a  Yank  than  a  rabbit.  I  cannot  say  but  it  was  supposed  to  be  a  regiment. 
They  were  ordered  to  the  front.  Our  information  was  received  from  the  very 
old  men  that  did  guard  duty  that  they  were  to  be  removed  very  soon  and  sent 
to  the  front.  To  explain — these  old  men  who  did  guard  duty  were  old  and  feeble 
and  unfit  for  marching.  Some  of  them  were  Union  at  heart  and  different  times 
would  divide  their  rations,  consisting  of  bacon  and  cornbread,  with  us,  which 
was  much  better  than  our  own.  The  raw  bacon  tasted  better  than  chicken  to 
day. 

On  this  day  Major  Gee  and  escort  marched  through  the  stockade  seeking 
Yankee  recruits,  offering  $300  in  gold  to  any  Yankee  that  would  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  become  a  Johnnie.  Many  fell  in  line  to  get  the  $300  in  gold 
offered  them  and  to  save  their  lives  from  starving,  but  alas,  none  of  them  re 
ceived  the  bounty.  I  have  since  seen  two  of  those  that  went  out.  They  stated 
their  treatment  was  some  better  than  the  stockade,  but  that  none  ever  saw  the 
bounty,  but  that  they  both  successfully  deserted  and  got  through  to  our  lines 
with  the  aid  of  colored  people  (slaves).  Their  names  I  have  lost  but  they  be 
longed  to  a  Connecticut  regiment.  These  rounds  of  the  Johnnies  making  the 
offer  of  $300  in  gold  for  all  Yanks  who  would  take  the  oath  were  a  daily  occur 
rence.  The  money  in  gold  was  carried  on  a  tray,  carried  in  the  front  amj  any 
comrade  who  was  there  will  vouch  for  all  I  say. 


M\  Experience  in  Prison  Life 


November  23d.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Received  one-fourth  ration  of  rice, 
soup  and  bread. 

November  24th.  Cloudy  but  warm.  Received  one-fourth  rations.  Soup  and 
bread.  Our  leaders  in  session  all  day  making  arrangements  for  the  break.  The 
"young  bloods,"  as  they  were  called,  were  packing  up  to  go  to  the  front  In 
all  parts  of  the  prison  the  boys  were  packing  up  and  fixing  their  possessions, 
fixing  something  about  their  clothing,  more  especially  their  shoes  —  those  who 
had  shoes.  Those  that  had  none  —  one  could  see  them  tearing  pieces  of  old  haver 
sacks,  old  pieces  of  gum  and  wool  blankets,  tying  the  pieces  on  their  feet  and 
preparing  for  a  long  march.  All  in  good  glee.  The  "young  bloods"  were  sent  to 
the  railroad,  but  no  transportation  was  ready. 

November  25th.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  one-fourth  rations  of  bread 
and  soup.  All  was  going  quietly  along  when  the  signal  was  given  and  all  the 
boys  who  had  tents  began  tearing  them  down.  The  relief  guards  were  passing 
and  a  raid  was  made  upon  the  16  guards  and  quite  a  fight  was  on  for  the  pos 
session  of  the  guns,  but  we  drove  the  Johnnies  out  of  the  stockade.  The  old 
guards  were  on  the  stockade.  Some  of  these  old  men  threw  their  guns  and 
accoutrements  in  to  us  and  some  opened  fire,  so  in  all  we  had  about  25  muskets 
and  carried  everything  before  us,  stopping  to  raid  the  bake  house,  and  out  of  the 
stockade  we  went,  in  what  I  would  call  a  southeasterly  direction.  Some  of  the 
ladies  of  Salisbury  shouted  to  us  as  we  went,  "Go  it,  you  poor  fellows."  Some 
to  the  reverse  shouted,  "Go  on,  you  d  —  -  Yankees,  you  will  soon  get  what 
you  want,"  and  here  to  our  great  surprise  the  young  bloods  were  still  lying 
at  the  railroad.  They  were  soon  on  our  trail  and  opened  fire  on  us,  killing 
outright  23  and  wounding  57  that  I  know  of.  We  were  all  in  confusion  and 
when  driven  back  into  the  stockade  I  saw  Major  Gee  and  a  long  slim  doctor 
stand  on  a  platform  on  the  inside  of  the  stockade  near  the  main  entrance  and 
shoot  for  fully  an  hour  after  we  were  driven  back,  wounding  a  number  and 
killing  two.  These  bloods  did  plenty  of  shooting.  I  was  on  the  detail  of  our 
me'i  to  crather  up  the  dead  and  wounded  is  how  I  learned  as  to  the  number. 
None  of  the  dead  or  wounded  were  brought  back  into  prison.  The  wounded 
were  taken  to  the  hospital  close  outside  the  stockade.  The  dead  were  all  taken 
out  to  the  cemetery  and  buried.  I  never  saw  any  of  the  wounded  again  and 
am  sure  more  than  half  died  as  some  were  mortally  wounded.  One  poor  com 
rade  begged  me  to  kill  him  and  end  his  suffering. 

It  might  be  interesting  to  the  reader  to  know  the  outline  of  the  stockade, 
Salisbury  Confederate  prison,  was  a  triangle-shaped  piece  of  ground  with  about 
a  ten-foot  fence  of  tight  boards  all  around  it.  On  the  outside  was  a  walk  all 
around  the  stockade  about  hip  high.  On  this  all  the  guards  walked  their  beats. 
On  the  inside  there  was  a  ditch  dug  and  the  earth  was  thrown  inside.  This 
was  called  the  dead  line.  Any  one  of  us  who  put  a  foot  on  that  line  was  a  dead 
man.  In  each  corner  of  the  triangle-shaped  pen  the  Johnnies  had  a  brass 
howitzer  field  piece,  from  which  they  fired  a  number  of  shots  of  all  kinds  of 
scrap  iron.  One  would  think  they  would  have  killed  all  in  the  stockade,  but 
we  lost  no  time  in  getting  into  our  holes  in  the  ground  that  served  us  as  tents 
and  were  bombproofs. 

November  26th.  All  very  quiet  in  the  pen.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  a  full 
ration  of  bread  and  meat. 


342     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

November  27th.  Cloudy.  Heavy  weather  and  rain  in  evening.  Received 
our  rations  of  bread  but  little  soup. 

November  28th.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  one-fourth  ration  of  bread  and 
soup.  All  quiet. 

November  29th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  For  our  rations  we  received  a  small 
piece  of  raw  tripe  and  a  one-half  ration  of  soup.  Recruiting  going  on  in  full 
bloom.  Twenty-seven  in  line.  Benjamin  Kemerly  of  Company  B  was  taken 
very  sick  and  taken  to  the  hospital. 

November  30th.  Recruiting  going  on.  They  only  take  ten  at  a  time  out  of 
stockade.  Received  small  loaf  cornbread.  All  quiet. 

December  1st,  2d,  3d,  4th  and  5th.  Beautiful  and  warm  in  morning.  Clouded 
up  and  had  cold  rain.  Still  recruiting.  Received  cornbread  and  sorghum. 

December  7th.  Cloudy  and  rain.  Received  our  rations  of  cornbread  and 
soup. 

December  8th.     Clear  and  warm.    Received  bread  and  soup. 

December  9th.  Cold,  raining  and  sleeting,  breaking  large  limbs  off  the  trees. 
Received  our  rations.  Wet  bread  and  soup. 

December  10th.    Still  raining,  sleeting.    All  very  quiet.    Received  our  rations. 

December  llth.  Moderate  and  thawing.  George  B.  Haynes,  of  Company  B, 
sick.  Received  our  rations. 

December  12th  and  13th.     Warm  and  muddy.     Received  our  rations. 

December  14th  and  15th.    Clear,  warm  and  beautiful.     Received  our  rations. 

December  16th.    Cloudy  but  warm.    Received  our  rations. 

December  17th.  Cloudy  but  warm.  Received  our  rations  of  wheat  bread  and 
soup. 

December  18th  and  19th.  Rainy  but  warm.  Received  our  full  rations  of 
wheat  bread.  Much  talk  of  parole  and  exchange. 

December  20th,  21st  and  22d.  Cold  and  growing  colder.  Received  our  regu 
lar  rations,  wheat  bread  and  soup. 

December  23d.  Clear  and  very  cold.  Received  one-half  ration  of  wheat 
bread  and  soup. 

December  24th.  Christmas  eve.  Thinking  of  the  many  pleasures  of  home. 
Received  our  daily  rations.  Cornbread  and  soup. 

December  25th.  Christmas.  Clear  and  cold.  Received  our  rations.  Wheat 
bread  and  soup.  So  for  our  Christmas  dinner  we  had  crust  bread  coffee,  soup 
and  bread.  Received  from  Dr.  W.  Howerton,  who  carried  a  Union  heart  under 
Rebel  clothes,  a  newspaper  in  which  we  read  much  encouragement.  TRe  doctor 
told  us  we  would  soon  be  paroled.  While  he  meant  it  well  it  was  long  coming. 
I  was  suffering  with  bone  break  and  rheumatism. 

December  26th  and  27th.  Rain  and  warm.  Nothing  new.  Received  our 
rations. 

December  28th.     Rain  all  day.     Received  our  rations  of  bread  and  soup. 

December  29th.  Clear  and  very  cold  in  morning  but  moderated  to  pleasant 
by  noon.  Received  our  daily  rations  of  cornbread  and  soup. 


My  Experience  in  Prison  Life  343 

I  would  just  here  say  that  if  any  person  outside  of  a  prisoner  of  war  would 
tell  you  how  the  dead  were  handled  and  how  the  sick  were  treated  you  would 
not  wonder  at  the  death  roll  of  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  where  between  17,000  and 
18,000  Union  soldiers  were  buried  between  1861  and  1865.  I  will  now  tell  you 
how  our  comrades  were  treated  in  the  hospital  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.  In  our 
stockade  was  a  large  cotton  mill,  I  think  four  stories  high,  known  as  No.  1. 
Then  there  were  ten  or  twelve  small  houses  or  huts,  one  story  and  attic,  one 
room  up  and  one  down,  with  great  fireplaces  in  each.  These  buildings  were 
used  as  hospitals,  dead  house  and  some  for  the  sergeants  of  squads,  so  the  beds 
for  our  sick  and  wounded  were  on  the  floor.  The  washboard  on  the  floors  served 
as  a  headboard  and  a  three  by  four  as  a  footboard,  placed  about  six  and  one-half 
to  seven  feet  from  the  washboard.  In  here  there  was  rye  straw  for  a  bed  and 
I  will  just  say  that  there  were  few  to  enter  who  went  out  alive. 

I  will  tell  you  now  how  they  handled  our  dead.  When  a  soldier  died  he  was 
carried  to  the  dead  house  and  should  the  soldier  have  any  good  garment  on 
him  that  would  be  taken  off,  as  a  rule  none  replaced  and  many  a  poor  comrade 
went  to  the  grave  as  naked  as  when  born.  When  the  dead  house  was  full  the; 
Johnnies  would  come  in  with  a  pair  of  mules,  load  up  as  you  would  cord  wood. 
I  have  seen  21  go  out  in  that  shape  at  one  load  and  in  that  load  was  my  com 
rade  James  Chambers  from  my  own  town  and  of  Company  K. 

There  was  but  one  doctor  for  all  the  sick.  His  name  I  have  already  men 
tioned.  It  was  Dr.  W.  H.  Howerton,  with  whom  I  became  very  intimate,  and 
I  will  again  say  he  had  a  Union  heart  beneath  Confederate  clothing.  Many 
times  he  would  bring  me  bacon,  onions,  tobacco  and  other  things  that  he  could 
carry  in  his  long  frock-tailed  coat.  I  corresponded  with  him  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death.  That  I  mourned  him  as  I  would  my  brother  is  true,  for  he  was 
as  good  as  he  could  be. 

December  30th.  Clear  and  very  cold.  Received  our  daily  rations.  All  quiet. 
Newspapers  speak  of  the  coming  of  Sheridan. 

December  31st.  Rained  and  snowed  all  day.  Received  our  rations.  Sat  up  to 
welcome  the  New  Year  but  no  one  had  a  watch  and  did  not  know  the  tfime. 
Some  of  the  guards  shot  and  I  hollered  out  to  the  Johnnies  and  asked  in  the 
darkness  what  time  it  was.  The  answer  came  back,  "The  New  Year  has  just 
stepped  in." 

Sunday,  January  1st,  1865.  Clear,  warm  and  beautiful.  We  received  our 
full  rations  and  as  a  dessert  we  received  a  gill  of  sorghum.  So  we  had  for  our 
New  Year  dinner  toast  bread,  molasses,  rice  and  turnip  soup  and  crust  coffee. 

January  2d.  Clear  and  cold.  Received  our  rations,  but  no  news  of  parole 
or  exchange. 

January  3d.  Morning  fair  but  started  to  rain  in  the  early  evening.  Received 
our  daily  rations.  Plenty  of  talk  of  exchange. 

January  4th.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  one-fourth  ration  of  soup,  corned 
beef  and  bread. 

January  5th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  The  whole  pen  was  out  on  the  skirmish 
line  searching  for  "graybacks."  Received  our  bread,  soup  and  small  piece  of 
meat.  Martin  Eshelman  was  admitted  to  No.  9  hospital. 

January  6th.     Rained  all  day  but  warm.     Received  rations. 


344     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

January  7th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Received  full  rations.  There  was  news 
in  the  prison  that  Charlotte,  N.  C,  had  been  fired  and  a  great  loss  sustained  by 
the  Confederacy;  fired  by  the  Yanks. 

January  8th.    Jackson  day  celebrated  by  the  Johnnies.     Clear  but  very  cold. 

January  9th.  Cloudy  but  very  warm.  Much  talk  and  confusion  among 
Johnnies  and  our  boys  but  nothing  official.  We  received  the  largest  rations  <in 
three  months  of  meat,  soup  and  bread.  Commenced  raining  at  8  P.  M. 

January  10th.  Rained  hard  all  day  and  night.  There  came  a  terrible  cyclone 
which  did  great  damage  outside  but  did  us  no  harm.  The  thunder  and  lightning 
were  terrific. 

January  llth.     Clear  and  beautiful.     Received  our  daily  rations. 

January  12th  and  13th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Received  our  daily  rations.  A 
large  fire  broke  in  Salisbury,  destroying  two  blocks.  Rumors  to  the  effect  that 
some  of  the  detailed  cigarmakers  did  it,  while  others  say  it  was  Union  people 
living  there;  no  arrests  that  I  heard  of. 

January  14th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  The  great  fire  seemed  to  interfere  with 
our  rations,  so  we  got  nothing  to  eat  at  all.  Rumors  say  it  was  done  to  force 
men  to  join  the  Confederate  army.  Recruiting  going  on  at  a  lively  rate  and  a 
good  bunch  of  boys  went  out. 

January  15th.     Clear  and  beautiful.     Received  one-half  rations.     Bread. 

January  16th.  Clear  and  warm.  Received  one-fourth  rations.  All  quiet  in 
camp.  Nothing  going  on  except  skirmishing  for  graybacks. 

January  17th,  18th  and  19th.  Warm  and  beautiful.  Received  regular  rations. 
All  quiet.  In  conference  with  many  others  in  reference  to  digging  tunnels,  but 
to  no  point. 

January  20th.  Cloudy  and  cold.  Received  one-half  rations.  Six  of  our 
number  concluded  to  dig  out  from  under  No.  9  hospital.  All  of  our  number 
sworn  to  secrecy  and  death  to  traitors.  E.  W.  McElroy,  Company  B,  Forty- 
fifth  ;  S.  G.  Turner,  Twelfth  United  States ;  Robert  Monk,  Thirty-ninth  Massa 
chusetts ;  A.  G.  Cassel,  Fifty-first  New  York;  Henry  Griffith,  Company  K,  Forty- 
fifth  ;  John  Marks,  unknown,  but  I  think  from  Massachusetts. 

January  21st.  Still  cold  but  fair.  Received  our  regular  rations.  As  near 
as  can  be  guessed  we  dug  60  feet.  Received  our  implements  from  Dr.  H'ower- 
ton.  Some  old  files  and  two  fire  shovels  and  an  old  bayonet.  All  the  earth  was 
put  down  in  old  well  and  on  dead  line.  All  work  at  night. 

January  22d.  Rained  all  day  and  night  but  warm.  Received  our  full  rations. 
The  night  was  a  good  night  and  all  went  nicely  in  our  work  in  tunnel,  only 
Turner  got  fast  and  we  had  quite  a  time,  as  a  good  sized  stone  dropped  on 
him  and  we  had  to  do  all  quietly,  but  finally  we  dug  the  hole  larger  to  get  Turner 
free. 

January  23d.  Still  raining  hard  but  warm.  Received  one-half  rations  of 
cornbread  and  rice  soup.  Robert  Carroll  and  Benjamin  Kemerly  of  Company  B 
went  out  on  parole  to  make  cigars  for  Dr.  Howerton.  The  doctor  told  us  to 
bear  up  that  exchange  was  near. 


My  Experience  in  Prison  Life  345 

Tuesday,  January  24th.  Clear  and  cold.  Received  full  rations  of  wheat 
bread,  soup  and  meat.  The  Johnnies  ordered  a  recount  of  all  prisoners  to  pre 
vent  flankers  from  repeating.  Still  digging. 

January  25th.  Clear  and  very  cold.  Received  our  full  rations.  Dr.  Hower- 
ton  brought  me  a  newspaper  showing  the  conditions  offered  by  Confederate 
commissioners  to  our  commissioners.  The  Johnnies  offered  to  exchange  white 
man  for  white  man  and  parole  all  over,  but  would  not  recognize  the  black  man, 
they  having  more  prisoners  than  our  people  had.  So  it  seems  from  their  side 
that  there  was  no  agreement  reached  as  our  people  wanted  man  for  man,  white 
or  Black.  Pushing  our  digging  day  and  night.  Keeping  all  of  the  earth  taken 
out  in  daytime  to  be  put  away  at  night. 

Thursday,  January  26th,  1865.  Very  cold  and  blustery.  Received  full  ra 
tions.  All  quiet  and  digging  going  on  nicely.  We  could  hear  the  Johnnies 
shouting  above  us  and  knew  from  our  measurements  we  were  not  quite  where 
we  wanted  to  break  ground.  Our  engineer,  Mr.  Turner  of  the  Twelfth  United 
States  Infantry,  said,  "Boys,  we  will  wait  until  to-morrow  and  measure  again." 

January  27th.  Clear  and  very  cold.  Received  our  daily  rations.  Our  tunnel 
completed.  Mr.  Turner  broke  ground.  All  who  were  in  Salisbury  prison  will 
know  we  broke  ground  to  the  left  of  the  frame  hospital  facing  the  same  from 
the  pen.  We  broke  ground  under  a  large  pile  of  brush.  It  seemed  to  us  as  if 
Providence  favored  us,  for  we  could  have  struck  no  better  spot.  We  all  went 
through  to  try  it  and  put  our  heads  out  of  the  hole  but  very  cautiously.  To  give 
the  reader  an  idea — At  one  end  we  made  the  hole  large  enough  to  turn  around 
to  go  back,  but  while  digging  we  went  in  head  foremost  and  came  back  feet  first. 
After  consultation,  as  the  weather  was  very  cold,  we  decided  to  wait  a  day  or  so 
for  better  weather  before  attempting  to  escape,  knowing  our  suffering  would  be 
great. 

January  28th.  Still  very  cold  and  stormy.  Received  our  regular  rations.  All 
quiet  along  the  line  and  we  decided  to  go  out  that  night.  We  ate  our  soup  and 
a  little  of  our  bread,  topping  out  with  acorns  that  we  boiled.  That  night  when 
all  was  still — I  suppose  midnight — we  went  out,  Comrade  Turner  in  the  lead, 
myself  second.  We  had  decided  to  get  to  a  given  spot  beyond  the  town  where 
we  would  meet.  Going  through  the  outskirts  of  the  town  in  twos  we  got  to 
gether  but  were  very  cold.  We  walked  all  night  and  when  day  was  breaking 
we  lay  under  the  bushes  and  undergrowth  until  the  sun  came  up.  You  can 
imagine  it  was  welcome  for  we  were  nearly  frozen.  We  lay  there  in  the  sun  on 
the  morning  of  the  29th  eating  what  we  had  and  while  eating  we  heard  the  clat 
ter  of  horses'  hoofs.  We  all  crawled  a  little  farther  back,  when  along  came  a 
detachment  of  cavalry  and  a  hot  looking  lot  they  were,  but  with  our  hearts  in 
our  mouths  we  lay  as  still  as  mice  and  they  rode  by  within  100  feet  of  us.  They 
had  hounds  with  them  and  went  on  by  to  a  running  stream.  They  watered  their 
horses  and  two  hounds — that  I  thought  were  as  large  as  their  horses — crossed 
the  stream  and  went  on.  What  we  feared  was  that  the  dogs  would  take  our 
trail,  but  luckily  for  us  the  dogs  never  crossed  it.  Beyond  this  stream  was  a 
road  and  we  got  water  from  the  stream  and  lay  there  that  day.  Some  sleeping 
and  two  on  guard.  After  a  while  we  were  again  on  the  alert  and  I  believe  I  held 
my  breath.  We  again  heard  the  sound  of  hoofs  and  to  our  agreeable  surprise 
along  came  two  negroes  with  a  pair  of  oxen.  We  hailed  them  when  we  saw 


346     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

they  were  unarmed.  "Hello,  Sambo,  where  are  you  fellows  going?"  One  of 
them  answered  in  surprise,  "My  Lord,  Marsters,  what  are  you?  You  ain't  Yanks, 
is  you?"  We  told  them  to  speak  low  and  that  we  were,  and  the  darkies  told  us 
that  we  were  in  a  dangerous  place.  They  said  we  were  close  to  Bradley  \Tohn- 
son's,  and  a  lot  of  officers  were  there  at  that  very  moment,  cursing  and  swearing 
and  fighting.  We  asked  them  if  they  had  any  bread  and  the  older  one  said,  "We 
ain't  got  much  but  we  will  give  you  what  we's  got,"  and  they  gave  us  a  loaf  of 
cornbread  and  two  caps  full  of  whole  corn  and  told  us  when  they  came  back  from 
the  store  they  would  give  us  as  much  corn  as  they  could.  We  went  to  the  other 
four  and  sat  down  to  a  feast  there  in  the  sun,  for  it  had  gotten  warm,  and  *we 
here  waited  for  the  blacks  to  return  from  the  store.  They  told  us  that  down 
at  the  store  they  went  among  some  other  slaves  and  we  got  a  sack  of  corn.  They 
told  us  that  over  at  the  store  all  the  white  people  said  that  the  Yanks  were  com 
ing  sure  and  they  were  burning  everything  as  they  went  and  that  all  the  Yankees 
in  the  pen  would  be  moved.  The  darkies  directed  us  as  best  they  could  and  we 
lay  in  the  bushes,  seeing  nothing  alive  during  the  day  except  ourselves.  We  had 
plenty  of  good  cornbread  and  water.  When  night  came  we  started  again  and 
marched  all  night  traveling  as  we  supposed  in  a  southeasterly  direction.  We 
wandered  until  day  began  to  break.  We  were  pushing  for  a  woods  or  where 
we  had  some  protection.  Day  was  coming  fast  so  we  saw  some  bushes  and  as 
it  was  day  we  had  to  stay  right  there  and  lie  right  there,  and  to  my  surprise  in, 
this  cluster  of  bushes  along  this  stream  of  water  I  met  Samuel  Eppler  of  my 
own  Company  B.  He  escaped  through  our  tunnel  the  night  before  we  started 
and  he  went  alone.  From  exposure  he  had  become  sick  and  as  he  was  •  from 
my  own  company  I  did  all  I  could  for  him.  Day  was  coming  on  fast  and  not 
knowing  what  to  do  and  he  too  sick  to  march  we  talked  the  matter  over.  He 
decided  to  stay  there  over  night  again  and  in  the  morning  go  out  on  the  open 
road  and  give  himself  up  and  go  to  a  Reb  hospital.  So  I  left  Sam  as  he  said  I 
should  go  with  the  boys  with  whom  I  had  come,  as  he  could  not  march.  We 
were  all  talking  and  Mr.  Turner  thought  we  had  better  make  two  groups.  We 
had  just  completed  our  arrangements  when  we  again  heard  the  clatter  of  horses' 
hoofs  and  the  rattling  of  side  arms,  and  all  at  once  we  were  surprised  for  a 
scouting  party  blundered  through  the  bushes  to  water  their  horses.  One  of  the 
horses  trod  on  the  foot  or  leg  of  poor  Eppler  and  the  pain  I  suppose  was  too 
great,  for  when  they  discovered  Eppler  they  put  their  hounds  on  us  and  they 
rode  up  and  down  the  stream  and  captured  every  one  except  Comrade  Turner 
and  I  never  saw' or  heard  of  him  since  the  morning  or  rather  evening  of  January 
30,  1865.  We  had  to  carry  Eppler  in  turns  over  to  Bradley  Johnson's  headquar 
ters.  There  they  put  him  in  an  ambulance  and  we  afoot  and  took  us  right  back 
to  where  we  came  from.  I  asked  permission  to  stay  with  Eppler  that  night 
and  they  allowed  me  to  stay  with  him.  At  midnight  he  died  and  I  lay  down 
aside  of  him  until  morning,  when  they  took  him  with  others  out  to  the  cemetery, 
now  the  National.  When  the  Johnnies  had  him  on  the  dead  wagon  I  saw  the 
guard  cut  the  buttons  off  his  blouse,  take  his  cap  and  then  take  the  blouse  off 
of  him.  Chances  are  he  was  buried  naked.  They  then  put  me  back  into  the 
same  old  pen  and  as  all  new  arrivals  get  the  salute  of  "fresh  fish"  I  received 
the  salute.  All  the  same  I  soon  found  my  other  comrades  and  that  afternoon  I 
made  an  inspection  of  the  tunnel  and  found  everything  just  as  we  had  left  .it;. 


'My  Experience  in  Prison  Life  347 

Where  Comrade  Turner  got  to  is  a  queer  thing.  That  neither  the  Johnnies  nor 
dogs  captured  him  is  a  mystery. 

January  31st.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Received  our  rations.  An  order  came 
that  all  the  colored  men  should  be  taken  out  of  Salisbury  and  sent  to  Columbia, 
S.  C,  after  which  I  met  Dr.  Howerton.  He  brought  me  a  paper  and  two  onions. 
He  told  me  not  to  go  out  again  as  we  would  soon  be  exchanged  as  the  blacks 
were  now  removed.  I  went  out  with  the  news  and  we  formed  in  a  large  group 
and  sang  all  the  patriotic  songs  we  could  think  of,  marching  all  through  the  pen. 
We  sang,  "Give  Us  Back  Our  Old  Commander,  Little  Mac,"  "Star  Spangled 
Banner,"  "John  Brown,"  or  anything  we  could  think  of.  We  raised  such  a  com 
motion  that  many  of  the  ladies  of  Salisbury  came  out  to  hear  the  boys,  so  some 
fellow  started,  "We'll  Hang  Jeff  Davis  on  a  Sour  Apple  Tree"  and  Major  Gee 
and  some  other  long  slim  Christian  commenced  to  shoot  and  did  shoot.  I  could 
not  say  how  many  were  hit  because  I  did  not  go  out  as  I  knew  I  would  surely 
get  it. 

February  1st,  1865.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Received  our  full  rations.  All  sat 
around  talking  of  the  news  of  parole  or  exchange.  All  quiet  along  the  line. 

February  2d,  3d  and  4th.  Warm  and  beautiful.  Received  our  usual  rations. 
All  quiet  and  in  good  glee. 

February  5th.  Cloudy  and  warm.  Received  our  usual  rations.  Dr.  Hower 
ton  brought  in  the  news.  Said  Jeff  Davis  was  skedaddling.  I  took  the  news  out 
among  the  boys  after  the  doctor  had  retired  and  we  fell  in  line  and  the  singing 
was  immense.  The  crowd  of  ladies  was  greater.  We  sang  until  after  dark  but 
Major  Gee  did  not  shoot  any  more. 

February  6th.     Cloudy  but  warm  and  pleasant.     Received  our  daily  rations. 

February  7th.  Cold,  rainy  and  sleeting  all  day.  Much  talk  of  the  meeting 
of  commissioners  of  ours  and  the  Johnnies.  Received  our  usual  rations. 

February  8th.  Clear,  warm  and  thawing  fast.  The  pen  nearly  dry.  Much 
better  hopes.  All  the  boys  cheerful.  Received  our  regular  rations.  Dr.  How 
erton  reports  the  Yanks  approaching  rapidly. 

February  9th.     Clear,  beautiful  and  warm.     Received  our  daily  rations. 

February  10th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Received  our  regular  rations.  The 
boys  all  singing  and  in  good  glee.  Twenty-three  dead  hauled  out. 

February  llth.  Clear  and  very  cold.  Received  our  rations.  Things  grow 
ing  brighter  every  day. 

February  12th.  Cloudy  with  little  rain.  Excitement  still  growing.  Received 
our  regular  rations. 

February  13th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Excitement  growing  but  nothing  to 
eat  but  acorns. 

February  14th  and  15th.     Clear  and  beautiful.     Received  one-half  ration. 

February  16th.  Cold  and  stormy.  General  Bradley  Johnson  came  into  prison 
and  made  a  speech  and 'told  all  to  cheer  up  that  we  would  all  be  sent  home  inside 
of  ten  days.  We  received  our  daily  rations.  The  boys  cheered  Johnson  and 
started  singing  and  marching. 

February  17th.  Still  cold  and  stormy.  Received  our  rations.  Excitement 
running  high. 


348     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

February  18th.  Orders  came  into  prison  posted  all  around  to  be  in  readi 
ness  and  the  bakers  were  ordered  to  bake  bread  as  fast  as  they  could.  There  was 
plenty  of  flour  for  bakers.  Boys  shouting,  singing,  gay  and  happy. 

February  19th.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Baking  going  on  as  fast  as  possible. 
All  the  boys  packed  their  little  effects.  Singing  all  day  long.  Received  plenty 
of  bread  and  a  little  soup. 

February  20th.  Still  warm  and  beautiful.  All  gay  and  happy.  To  move 
as  soon  as  transportation  can  be  gotten.  Received  all  we  could  eat  of  bread, 
meat,  small  ration  of  soup  and  molasses. 

February  21st.  Cloudy  and  rain  in  afternoon.  All  gay  and  happy.  The 
boys  did  not  mind  the  rain.  Cannonading  off  in  the  direction  of  capitol,  Raleigh 
city.  This  set  the  boys  wild  and  cheer  after  cheer  went  up.  The  old  men  doing 
guard  duty  would  laugh  heartily  and  when  opportunity  afforded  would  wave 
their  hankerchiefs.  Received  all  we  wanted  to  eat. 

February  22d.  Clear  and  beautiful.  Early  in  the  morning  cannonading 
could  be  heard  toward  Raleigh.  Dr.  Howerton  told  us  it  was  General  Thomas' 
command,  so  they  sent  in  three  or  four  wagons  of  bread,  piled  it  up  in  the  stock 
ade  and  we  could  take  all  we  wanted.  Then  came  orders  for  all  that  could 
march  to  fall  in  line  and  an  escort  with  them  to  march  to  Greensboro.  All  that 
possibly  could  went,  plenty  falling  by  the  way.  Dr.  Howerton  requested'^  me  to 
stay  back  and  see  after  the  sick,  so  I  remained.  I  received  a  number  of  new 
wool  blankets,  sent  to  us  from  our  government.  In  fact,  I  had  more  than  I 
wanted. 

February  23d.  Clear  and  beautiful.  I  had  all  the  sick  transferred  to  the 
old  factory,  where  we,  through  Dr.  Howerton,  had  them  as  comfortably  fixed 
as  could  be  under  the  circumstances.  Had  all  we  wanted  to  eat. 

February  24th.  Still  clear,  warm  and  beautiful.  I  was,  as  were  all  that 
were  left  back,  placed  on  parole  of  honor  and  went  in  and  out  of x  the  city  at  will. 
Conversed  with  many  old  people  who  wished  the  cruel  war  was  over.  We  had 
all  we  wanted  to  eat  but  so  many  poor  comrades  were  past  eating.  The  first  night 
in  Prison  No.  1  seven  died.  One  of  the  number  was  a  colored  soldier  and  as 
they  were  of  strange  commands  to  me  I  could  not  get  name  nor  command,  but 
they  were  taken  out  more  decently  than  the  others  who  had  died  there. 

February  25th.  Rained  hard  all  day  and  very  cold.  Still  in  old  No.  1  pen. 
About  nine  o'clock  I  got  orders  to  be  in  readiness,  so  we  went  out  to  the  depot, 
lay  around  all  night  until  the  next  day.  I  was  the  last  man  to  leave  the  stockade. 

February  26th.  We  took  the  cars  at  Salisbury  for  Greensboro.  Arrived 
there  about  eight  o'clock  a.  m.  We  were  marched  out  into  the  country,  the  sick  left 
in  the  cars  until  morning,  10  a.  m.,  February  27th,  when  we  marched  into  Greens 
boro.  Took  the  cars  at  Greensboro  that  afternoon.  Marched  out  to  fair  grounds, 
camped  over  night  and  until  afternoon  of  the  28th.  Marched  into  Goldsboro, 
took  the  cars  for  Stony  Point  Station  and  were  turned  over  to  our  people.  I 
am  sure  that  was  the  happiest  moment  of  my  life;  tears  streaming  from  the  eyes 
of  every  prisoner  and  of  our  comrades  who  received  us;  then  the  hallelujah 
began ;  thousands  of  our  men  asking  questions  about  some  dear  one.  First  ques 
tion  was,  "Where  were  you  boys  ?"  After  hearing,  "Salisbury ;"  "Why,  I  had  a 
father  or  brother  there."  "Did  you  know  so  and  so?"  Some  were  there  and  others 


My  Experience  in  Prison  Life  349 

had  answered  the  last  roll  call.  So  on  we  marched  along  to  a  camp  ready  for 
us,  our  ambulances  taking  the  sick  into  this  camp  prepared  for  all  there  on  the 
banks  of  Cape  Fear  River.  We  were  taken  in  charge  by  those  good  people,  the 
Sanitary  and  Christian  Commission.  After  receiving  all  we  wanted  to  eat  and 
drink  I  strolled  about  to  see  if  I  could  see  any  comrade  I  knew.  There  is  where 
I  saw  the  first  of  the  Two  Hundredth  Regiment  and  the  first  one  I  ran  against 
was  Sampson  Nunimaker  of  the  Two  Hundred  and  Third.  The  next  was  Cap 
tain  S.  E.  Wisner  of  the  Seventy-ninth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  and  next  was 
Lieutenant  Paris  Rudisill.  The  three  named  were  all  from  my  native  town, 
Marietta,  Pa.  None  of  the  three  knew  me,  but  I  knew  them.  The  reason  was 
that  I  never  had  my  hair  cut  or  was  shaved  in  my  confinement,  but  when  I  spoke 
to  them  they  knew  my  voice  and  I  say  it  was  a  happy  meeting.  Lieutenant 
Rudisill  remarked  I  looked  more  like  a  buffalo.  Those  that  could  and  would 
march  started  for  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  but  many  took  transportation  on  the  boat 
via  Fort  Fisher.  There  we  were  compelled  to  wait  for  high  tide.  This  is  how 
we  saw  Fort  Fisher.  We  got  into  Wilmington,  March  2d.  On  our  arrival  at 
Wilmington  all  was  quiet.  We  saw  plenty  of  sham  monitors  drifting  around 
in  the  river  front.  This  I  was  told  answered  all  purpose  to  draw  troops  to  the 
front  and  our  men  I  am  told  got  in  the  rear  on  the  Johnnies.  On  our  arrival 
at  Wilmington  we  were  a  horrible  looking  set  of  Yanks  and  one  would  say  alive 
only  to  move  along  until  we  came  to  where  there  were  troops  that  had  their 
guns  stacked.  Our  boys  were  wild  at  sight  of  them  and  on  hearing  that  our  men 
had  a  lot  of  prisoners  in  the  jail  and  other  pens  our  boys  made  a  rush  and  se 
cured  the  guns,  accoutrements  and  ammunition  and  were  preparing  for  a  charge 
and  massacre  of  the  Rebel  prisoners  when  some  of  our  officers  pleaded  with 
them  to  desist.  After  considerable  persuasion  they  again  returned  and  stacked 
arms.  We  were  at  liberty  to  go  where  we  liked  in  and  about  the  city.  We  fey 
at  Wilmington  for  three  days  and  finally  they  got  the  boat  "California"  and 
started  for  Annapolis.  A  rough  sea  about  Cape  Hatteras  made  us  all  more  sick 
and  there  was  a  sickly  set  in  that  hull  and  on  deck.  At  last  we  arrived  at  An 
napolis,  Md.  There  we  were  all  cleaned  up.  If  we  had  any  trinkets'  they  were 
taken  from  us.  Our  names,  company  and  regiment  were  recorded.  We  were 
then  sent  into  an  old  tent  and  stripped  to  the  skin.  Next  we  were  sent  to  the 
bath  houses  and  all  of  us  received  a  thorough  cleaning  up  and  painted  with  oint 
ment  and  all  received  good  clean  clothing  and  underwear  from  the  Sanitary  and 
Christian  Commission.  We  were  all  sent  or  taken  to  the  barber  shops.  I  was 
sitting  waiting  for  my  turn  when  I  happened  to  look  into  a  mirror  and  I  turned 
both  ways  right  and  left  to  see  if  anything  else  was  looking  into  the  mirror,  when 
to  my  great  surprise  I  did  not  know  myself.  Then  I  thought  of  Wisner,  Rudi 
sill  and  Nunimaker  and  thought  to  myself,  no  wonder  they  did  not  know  me 
when  I  did  not  know  myself.  Finally  my  turn  came  for  the  chair.  I  took  a  good 
look  at  myself  and  said  to  the  barber,  "Now,  by  G — ,  isn't  that  the  ugliest  thing 
you  ever  saw."  The  barber  laughed  and  laughed  and  said  to  me,  "Be  quiet  if 
you  do  not  want  to  be  cut."  So  finally  I  got  both  crops  off  and  after  another  good 
coat  of  ointment  I  bade  farewell  forever  to  my  old  associates,  the  graybacks  that 
had  kept  me  moving  many  times  and  when  I  arose  from  the  chair  I  took  an 
other  look  in  the  glass  again  and  again  thought,  "Well,  if  that  is  the  same  thing 
that  looked  at  me  before  I  am  beat — that  red  faced  boy." 


35°     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

We  then  went  into  Parole  Camp.  We  were  there  for  three  days,  awaiting 
transportation  and  our  pay.  We  received  three  months'  extra  pay,  clothing, 
money  and  commutation  money.  While  waiting  there  I  witnessed  the  most  af 
fecting  scenes  I  ever  saw  in  camp  or  elsewhere.  We  would  sit  around  in  groups 
making  our  arrangements  for  our  furloughs  home.  The  camp  was  full  of  citi 
zens  of  both  sexes.  Every  minute  or  so  some  one  would  ask  of  you,  "What 
prison  were  you  in?"  "Salisbury,"  I  would  say.  "Oh,  soldier,  I  had  a  brother, 
a  father,  husband,  there."  So  if  I  knew  anything  about  them  I  would  answer, 
or  if  I  or  any  of  the  groups  about  us  did  or  did  not,  so  if  we  knew  nothing  there 
was  weeping  and  pitiful  lamentings  for  the  poor  brother,  poor  father,  or  husband. 
I  tell  you,  reader,  there  were  more  red  eyes  there  than  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  Now 
and  then  some  friend  would  find  one  of  his  loved  ones.  Then  there  were  shouting, 
praying  and  singing.  Two  others  and  myself  concluded  to  hide  and  got  way  back 
under  the  barracks  when  an  old  gray-headed  man  saw  us  crawling  under  the 
barracks  and  he  crawled  under  to  us.  We  could  not  refuse  answering  the  old 
man  and  we  went  out  into  camp,  and  found  his  son.  Now,  I  will  tell  you  it 
was  a  great  happening.  All  hands  used  our  handkerchiefs.  The  old  gentleman's 
name  was  Haynes,  of  Maytown,  Lancaster  County,  father  of  George  B.  Haynes, 
of  Company  B,  Forty-fifth  Regiment. 

During  this  meeting  they  began  giving  us  what  we  never  looked  for — three 
months'  extra  pay,  our  clothing  and  commutation  money.  We  all  were  fixed  up 
and  started  next  morning,  all  singing,  gay  and  happy  and  if  ever  there  was  a 
happy  crowd  we  were.  We  made  Baltimore  ring  and  everywhere  we  went  things 
were  open  to  us.  I  arrived  in  Columbia  on  the  17th  of  March,  1865,  and  as  there 
was  no  bridge  we  were  ferried  across  the  Susquehanna  from  Wrightsville  by 
Captain  Joe  Black.  The  water  ran  over  the  top  of  the  bridge  piers  and  there 
were  no  cars  running  to  Marietta,  so  we  had  to  take  the  pike  and  when  I  got  to 
Marietta  the  water  ran  down  Front  Street.  People  were  running  boats  on  the 
street. 

The  following  is  a  true  statement  of  the  comrades  that  died  at  Salisbury,  N. 
C,  from  October  7th,  1864,  to  February  26th,  1865,  of  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Infantry,  as  I  have  them  in  my  diary ;  there  were  some  that 
I  did  not  get.  I  will  just  say  that  I  do  not  have  one  name  of  the  Forty-fifth 
Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry  that  went  out  and  took  the  oath  to  the  Con 
federacy  as  many  others  did : 

NAMES  OF  THE  DEAD. 

Henry  Souders,  Company  F,  died  October  4th,  1864. 
Abraham  Boyer,  Company  A,  died  November  1st,  1864. 
Conrad  Soder,  Company  F,  died  November  9th,  1864. 
Albert  Bryan,  Company  H,  died  November  17th,  1864. 
Alfred  T.  Whitney,  Company  F,  died  November  19th,  1864. 
William  Dunlap,  Company  A,  died  November  25th,  1864. 
Henry  Hurman,  Company  F,  died  November  26th,  1864. 
Willis  J.  Mickle,  Company  G,  died  December  3d,  1864. 
John  Lyons,  Company  D,  died  December  16th,  1864. 
William  Gearhart,  Company  E,  died  December  llth,  1864. 
Albert  Lyons,  Company  F,  died  December  18th,  1864. 


My  Experience  in  Prison  Life  351 

William  B.  Glenn,  Company  E,  died  December  22d,  1864. 

Jerome   Seymour,    Company  H,   died   December  23d,   1864. 

Benjamin  Glenn,  Company  C,  died  December  24th,  1864. 

Jacob  B.  Eshelman,  Company  B,  died  December  24th,  1864. 

Charles  Cartright,  Company  E,  died  December  25th,  1864. 

Isaac  Metcalf,  Company  F,  died  December  25th,  1864. 

William  Cahill,  Company  H,  died  December  27th,  1864. 

Isaac  Chamberlain,  Company  F,  died  December  28th,  1864. 

Charles  Burns,  Company  C,  died  December  28th,  1864. 

Michael  Regan,  Company  C,  died  December  29th,  1864. 

John  Otto,  Company  F,   died  December  29th,   1864. 

Samuel  L.  Eppler,  Company  B,  died  February  1st,  1868. 

John  More,  Company  K,  died  January  1st,  1865. 

George  Slack,  Company  C,  died  January  4th,  1865. 

James  Chambers,  Company  K,  died  January  8th,  1865. 

Joseph  Taylor,  Company  C,  died  January  8th,  1865. 

Charles  Lamberson,  Company  K,  died  January  9th,  1865. 

Martin  Eshelman,  Company  B,  died  January  llth,  1865. 

John  S.  Beach,  Company  I,  died  January  12th,  1865. 

Charles  A.  Deckman,  Company  K,  died  January  13th,  1865. 

Henry  P.  Griffith,  Company  B,  died  February  3d,  1865. 

George  E.  Fergerson,  Company  H,  died  February  5th,  1865. 

Daniel  B.  Harpster,  Company  E,  died  February  8th,  1865. 

Tyler  Rittenhouse,  Company  B,  died  February  9th,  1865. 

Samuel  H.  Myers,  Company  E,  died  February  llth,  1865. 

Dennis  Ryan,  Company  E,  died  February  14th,  1865. 

Joshua  L.  Brown,  Company  B,  died  February  15th,  1865. 

Charles  F.  Starks,  Company  C,  died  about  February  27th  on  the  route  home. 


352     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


LIFE  IN  PRISON  AND  HOSPITAL 

J.  B.  EMERY. 

At  the  request  of  the  Historian  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Regiment 
Veteran  Volunteers  I  will  endeavor  to  write  an  article  detailing  my  experience 
while  held  as  a  prisoner  by  the  Confederates  during  the  Civil  War. 

I  can  give  dates  and  occurrences  with  accuracy  from  the  fact  that  I  am  in 
possession  of  a  diary  kept  by  myself  during  my  imprisonment,  excepting  a  short 
time  while  too  ill  to  write. 

Monday,  September  14th,  1863,  while  at  Linn  Camp  Post  Office,  Ky.,  a  de 
tail  of  the  following  persons  was  made  and  sent  to  Pennsylvania  for  the  pur 
pose  of  bringing  conscripts,  otherwise  drafted  men,  to  our  division.  This  detail 
consisted  of  Captain  Campbell,  Company  E ;  Lieutenant  Hart,  Company  I ;  Lieu 
tenant  VanValin,  Company  A;  Quartermaster  Sergeant  Mullen,  Company  K; 
Sergeant  Hollahan,  Company  A;  Jesse  Wilcox,  Company  H;  John  Bailey,  Cor 
poral  Joseph  Bailey,  Company  E,  and  myself.  We  marched  to  Nicholasville,  Ky.. 
and  took  train  for  the  East.  This  detail  was  ordered  to  return  to  its  command 
early  in  November,  not  having  secured  the  quota  of  conscripts  for  which  it  was 
sent.  We,  or  rather  a  part  of  the  detail,  reached  Cumberland  Gap,  Tenn.,  on  the 
25th  of  November,  and 'were  there  detained  as  we  were  unable  to  proceed  to  our 
regiment  because  of  the  siege  of  Knoxville  by  General  Longstreet's  command. 
November  30th  the  troops  at  Cumberland  Gap  were  advised  of  the  raising  of  the 
siege  and  on  1st  of  December  marched  to  Tazewell  enroute  to  join  their  various 
commands.  We  of  the  Forty-fifth  accompanied  a  lot  of  Ninth  Corps  convales 
cents  under  Captain  Banks  of  the  Thirteenth  Kentucky  Regiment  of  United 
States  troops. 

On  the  13th  of  December  orders  were  received  to  move  toward  Flat  Gap  of 
the  Clinch  Mountains.  We  left  Tazewell  in  company  with  a  wagon  train  of  22 
wagons  loaded  with  sugar  and  coffee  for  General  Burnside's  command.  Only  a 
portion  of  our  party  was  armed.  We  marched  till  late  in  the  afternoon  and  en 
camped  at  a  point  near  a  gap  in  the  mountains  where  there  was  encamped1  a 
regiment  of  new  troops  from  Indiana.  As  we  had  passed  a  camp  of  Union 
cavalry  a  short  time  before  we  reasonably  supposed  we  were  on  safe  territory. 

Now  commences  my  prison  experience.  Shortly  before  dark  while  we  were 
preparing  our  supper  General  W.  E.  Jones'  brigade  of  Virginia  cavalry,  evi 
dently  on  the  lookout  for  this  supply  train,  moved  to  a  point  back  of  a  low  ridge 
near  us,  and  sent  Colonel  Wicher's  battalion  of  Thirty-fourth  Virginia,  dis 
mounted,  to  charge  us. 

Three  others  and  myself  were  sitting  around  our  small  camp  fire  when 
first  shots  were  fired.  One  went  through  my  cup  of  coffee.  I  copy  following 
from  diary : 

"About  20  of  us  had  guns.  We  stood  and  fired  till  they  overpowered  us, 
and  of  course  took  us  prisoners.  Corporal  Wilcox  of  Company  H  was  shot 
through  the  hand  and  one  man  of  Fifty-first  Pennsylvania  through  the  shoul 
der.  Twelve  of  the  Forty-fifth  were  taken  prisoners.  They  marched  us  all 


First  Sergeant  John  B.  Emery. 
Company  I. 


Confederate's    in    East    Tennessee. 


Enlisted  .Imiuarv   1st.    1st;:.';    captured 
December  14th,    18<>J. 

Prisoner  of  war  at  Hichmoiid.  Va..  until  April  Kith.  18»>4:  paroled  and 
went  to  hospital  in  Baltimore.  April  18th:  to  Convalescent  Camp  at  Annap 
olis.  Md..  Ani-ii  25th,  and  to  the  regiment,  Mav  25th,  1SU4,  at  North  Ann 
Kiver,  Va. 

I'romoted  to  corporal  September.  1S<'>2:  to  sergeant  in  18(53,  to  first  ser 
geant  October  30th.  1SU4.  to  date  from  September  7th,  1804;  to  tirst  lieutenant 
of  Company  (1,  October  2d.  1S(i4.  This  commission  was  declined  by  Sergeant 
Emery  for  the  reason  that  there  were  good  sergeants  in  Company  Cl  who  had 
reenlisted  when  he  was  a  prisoner  of  war  and  these  men  deserved  promotion. 


Life  in  Prison  and  Hospital  353 

night.  Captain  Burke's  Company  of  Twenty-first  Virginia  was  in  charge  of  us. 
The  man  who  captured  me  took  my  watch,  pocketbook,  haversack  and  over 
coat  and  cursed  me  because  I  didn't  carry  a  jackknife.  I  had  a  small  'poke'  of 
coffee  and  one  of  sugar  in  my  haversack  and  asked  that  I  be  permitted  to  keep 
them  as  they  had  gotten  our  train  and  would  find  plenty  in  the  wagons.  I 
didn't  retain  them." 

I  find  that  I  did  not  record,  nor  can  I  remember,  the  names  of  all  the  com 
rades  captured  with  me.  Lieutenant  Hart,  John  Miles,  Jesse  Wilcox,  H.  W. 
Smith,  Sergeant  Amos  Mullin  and  Sergeant  Hollahan  were  among  the  number. 

The  skirmish  was  hot  for  a  little  while.  There  were  several  small  log 
buidings  at  the  point  of  attack,  and  Wilcox  and  I  were  behind  one  of  them 
firing.  As  three  Confederates  were  running  to  get  under  cover  of  another 
building  I  aimed  at  the  one  in  the  lead  who  had  not  seen  me.  One  of  the  three 
sighted  me  and  raised  his  gun  on  me.  We  fired  simultaneously.  I  nearly  "got" 
my  man.  During  the  night  of  the  capture,  while  seated  around  a  camp  fire,  I 
spoke  of  the  circumstance.  One  of  the  guards  spoke  up  and  said,  "I  should  say 
you  did — look  at  my  cheek."  I  had  cut  the  skin  over  his  cheekbone. 

During  our  first  night's  capture  one  of  the  guards  stole  Lieutenant  Hart's 
cap.  The  matter  was  reported  to  Captain  Burke  who  at  once  instituted  a  search, 
recovered  and  returned  the  cap  to  Lieutenant  Hart  thus  proving  himself  a 
soldier. 

On  the  15th  we  marched  till  noon  when  we  received  some  cornmeal  and  a 
very  small  piece  of  meat  per  man.  Lieutenant  Hart  and  I  baked  our  meal  on  a 
board  and  roasted  the  meat  on  coals. 

On  the  16th  we  each  received  a  pint  of  flour  and  a  half  pound  of  meat, 
marched  to  Mooresburg  and  were  quartered  for  the  night  in  an  old  warehouse. 
On  the  17th  John  Johnson  of  Company  I,  Forty-fifth,  and  two  of  the  Eighth 
Michigan  were  added  to  our  number.  On  the  18th  further  additions  were 
made  by  Kaufman  of  Company  F,  one  other  of  the  Forty-fifth,  ten  of  the  Thir 
ty-sixth  Massachusetts,  and  66  others.  We  reached  Rogersville  on  the  19th 
and  were  packed  like  sardines,  in  a  bank  building,  where  we  each  drew  seven 
small  biscuits.  Weather  exceedingly  cold.  While  still  here  on  the  20th  some 
of  the  loyal  East  Tennesseeans  wanted  to  bring  in  some  food  to  distribute  among 
us.  General  Vaughn  issued  an  order  forbidding  it.  No  rations  issued  to  us  on 
this  day.  My  diary  notes  the  following:  "Beginning  to  get  lousy."  We  drew 
six  small  biscuits  per  man  on  21st.  On  22d,  record  in  diary  says,  "Drew  about 
one  pound  of  bread  and  a  half  pound  of  boiled  beef  in  the  evening.  I  paid  one 
dollar  in  Confederate  money  for  four  ears  of  corn  to  parch.  On  23d  we  left 
Rogersville  under  guard  of  a  part  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Tennessee  Regiment, 
C.  S.'  A.  Drew  two  biscuits  per  man  to-day.  Other  prisoners  were  added  to  our 
crowd  making  about  200.  Marched  15  miles  on  24th  and  spent  the  night  in 
a  church  at  Kingsport.  The  25th  found  us  16  miles  nearer  our  destination 
quartered  in  the  Jefferson  Seminary,  and  the  26th  we  reached  Bristol,  the 
main  street  of  which  is  the  dividing  line  between  Virginia  and  Tennessee. 

We  were  encamped  here  in  a  piece  of  oak  woods  for  two  and  one-half  days 
without  shelter  of  any  kind  in  a  drizzling  cold  rain.  Our  treatment  by  our 
guards  on  the  march  from  where  we  were  captured  to  this  place  was  very  good, 


354     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

but  our  rations  were  very  scant,  being  really  less  than  half  the  usual  amount  or 
weight.  There  was  no  salt  in  the  bread  and  none  given  us  for  our  meat  and  the 
bread  to  be  made  by  us  out  of  the  flour  and  meal  issued. 

The  afternoon  of  the  28th  we  drew  some  rations  and  were  loaded  into  sec 
ond  class  cars  and  at  10  P.  M.,  started  for  Richmond.  We  were  packed  in  so 
close  that  not  half  of  us  could  get  seats. 

During  the  war  a  large  number  of  loyal  East  Tennesseeans  enlisted  in  the 
Federal  Army  and  I  am  told  they  made  excellent  soldiers.  Hundreds  of 
mountaineers  "hid  out"  in  the  mountains  to  prevent  conscription  for  the  Con 
federate  army.  At  times  they  would  visit  their  homes  for  supplies  and  to  meet 
their  families.  On  our  march  towards  Bristol  an  affecting  incident  occurred. 
Our  guards  halted  us  near  a  small  farm  house.  While  there,  some  of  the 
guards  searched  the  house  and  found  the  head  of  the  family  in  hiding.  He 
was  brought  out  and  told  to  get  in  line  with  us — the  intention  being  to  turn 
him  over  to  the  Rebel  conscription  officers.  At  the  bars  near  the  house  his  wife 
threw  her  arms  around  his  neck  and  two  small  children  clung  to  his  legs,  the 
wife  begging  the  guards  not  to  take  him  away.  Her  appeals  and  screams  were 
of  no  avail. 

On  the  28th  we  started  for  Richmond.  Our  trip  was  without  incident 
worthy  of  mention.  On  the  30th  we  reached  our  destination,  the  goal  the 
Union  army  had  been  trying  to  reach  for  many  months.  I  have  always  very 
much  regretted  that  I  was  not  present  at  its  triumphal  entry  at  close  of  the  war. 
On  our  arrival  the  privates  and  noncommissioned  officers  of  our  party  were 
taken  to  Scott's  tobacco  factory — the  officers  being  placed  in  Libbey  Prison. 

This  factory  was  several  stories  high  filled  with  Union  prisoners.  Near  the 
center  of  it  there  was  an  open  hatchway  down 'which  was  thrown  all  sorts  of 
slop  and  dirt.  Corporal  Wilcox  and  myself  were  located  on  the  lower  floor,  along 
the  center  of  which  there  was  no  flooring  but  instead  a  stinking  pool  of  dirty 
water,  etc.  On  the  wet  slimy  flooring  along  the  sides  we  were  located,  our 
heads,  when  sleeping,  being  toward  the  wall  and  our  feet  on  the  edge  of  the  pool. 

On  the  30th  we  drew  some  corn  bread  and  a  little  beef.  Corporal  Wilcox 
whose  hand  had  received  no  medical  attention  since  he  was  shot  on  the  13th 
was  removed  to  the  hospital,  at  least  the  guards  said  he  was  to  be  taken  there. 
His  wound  was  in  a  horrible  condition  and  smelled  to  the  skies.  He  died  in  the 
hospital.  I  gave  him  all  the  care  possible  during  his  trip  from  point  of  capture. 
At  one  time  on  our  march  to  Bristol  I  saw  an  opportunity  to  escape  but  did  not 
embrace  it  because  I  thought  Comrade  Wilcox,  my  blanket  mate,  needed  my  at 
tention. 

On  the  above  date  at  noon  we  were  each  given  a  small  piece  of  cornbread 
and  fresh  beef  and  at  night  a  little  soup. 

January  1st,  1864.  I  with  many  others  was  sent  to  Belle  Isle,  in  the  middle 
of  the  James  River,  opposite  Richmond.  In  casting  lots  for  Belle  Isle  or  hell — 
give  me  the  long  straw  for  the  latter.  I  am  sure  it  would  be  healthier  and  pleas- 
anter.  From  this  time  until  my  release  from  prison  I  thought  it  prudent  not  to 
mention  in  my  diary  all  the  cruelties  practiced  at  our  prison  camp  fearing  if  it 
were  examined  it  would  be  taken  from  me.  From  above  date  until  my  re 
lease  I  will  give  practically  all  the  contents  of  my  diary,  injecting  a  few  remarks 
now  and  then. 


Life  in  Prison  and  Hospital  355 

We  found  on  Belle  Isle  a  very  large  number  of  Union  prisoners  quartered 
in  old  tents — too  old  and  worn  to  be  of  service  in  the  field,  the  larger  part  of  them 
very  leaky.  I  can  never  forget  the  appearance  of  these  men.  Those  who  had 
been  longest  confined  were  emaciated,  dirty  and  lousy,  and  many  of  them  too  sick 
to  get  out  of  their  tents.  Many  were  suffering  from  frozen  and  frosted  feet. 

For  convenience  in  issuing  rations  and  to  prevent  "repeating"  our  boys  were 
divided  into  squads  of  100,  in  charge  of  a  Union  sergeant,  the  squads  being  sub 
divided  into  messes  of  20.  When  rations  were  issued  the  sergeant  drew  them, 
divided  them  into  five  lots.  Members  of  each  mess  would  stand  with  their  backs 
to  the  ration.  The  sergeant  would  point  to  a  pile  and  ask,  "Who  takes  this?" 
This  plan  pleased  all  parties  as  it  was  entirely  fair. 

January  2d.  Did  not  get  out  of  bed  except  to  get  my  ration  of  cornbread 
and  soup  or  rather  swill.  Weather  extremely  cold.  I  was  quartered  in  an  old 
Sibley  (circular)  tent  with  18  others.  My  "bed"  consisted  of  the  ground  with  a 
piece  of  shelter  tent  made  of  twilled  muslin  between  myself  and  it. 

January  3d  and  4th.     No  record  made  in  diary. 

January  5th.     Rained  a  little  to-day. 

January  6th.  Snowed  in  the  afternoon.  Weather  extremely  cold.  Ration  a 
half  loaf  cornbread  and  one  or  two  ounces  of  beef.  No  salt  in  bread  or  beef. 

January  7th.     Nothing  occurred  worthy  of  note. 

January  8th.  Laid  in  bed  all  day  trying  to  keep  warm.  Drew  two  or  three 
sweet  cakes,  extra  from  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission. 

January  9th.  Weather  somewhat  warmer.  Drew  a  fourth  loaf  of  cornbread 
in  morning  and  a  small  piece  of  bacon  in  the  evening. 

January  10th.     Drew  rice  soup  at  night. 

January  llth.     Weather  pleasant  but  very  nasty  under  foot. 

January  12th.  Drew  a  fourth  loaf  cornbread  and  one  ounce  of  beef  for  din 
ner.  Bread  and  bean  soup  for  supper. 

January  13th.     Pleasant  to-day.     Rice   soup   for   supper. 

January  14th.     Quite  pleasant.     Rations  same  as  usual. 

January  15th.     Rice  soup  for  supper. 

January  16th.  Drew  no  meat  to-day  only  one  pint  of  rice  soup  and  a  piece 
pf  cornbread. 

January  17th.  Same  rations  as  yesterday.  Two  or  three  hundred  new  men 
came  in  to-day.  All  have  to  lie  in  the  streets — no  room  in  the  tents. 

January  18th.  Drew  a  half  loaf  cornbread  and  a  little  soup.  Rained  at  in 
tervals  all  day.  I  am  getting  thin  for  want  of  something  to  eat.  Five  hundred 
new  prisoners  came  in  to-day.  All  are  compelled  to  lie  in  the  street. 

January  19th.     Drew  a  half  loaf  bread.     Men  dying  every  day. 

January  20th.     Rations  to-day,  a  half  loaf  cornbread  and  a  little  bean  soup. 

January  21st.  Everything  goes  on  as  usual.  Rations  as  ever — hardly  suf 
ficient  to  keep  a  mouse.  Weather  quite  pleasant  for  the  season. 

January  22d.  Warmer  to-day.  Rations  a  half  loaf  bread  and  a  little  rice 
soup. 


356     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

January  23d.     Bean  soup  and  cornbread  drawn  to-day. 

January  24th.     Bean  soup  and  bread  to-day. 

January  26th.     Smaller  rations  of  bread  and  no  soup. 

January  27th.     Drew  a  third  loaf  cornbread  twice  to-day. 

January  28th.  To-day  received  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  small  piece  of  fresh 
meat. 

January  29th.     Same  rations  as  yesterday  with  the  addition  of  some  rice  soup. 

January  30th.     Rained  hard  in  the  night. 

February  1st.  Very  muddy  and  disagreeable  in  camp.  Rations  of  bean  soup 
and  bread. 

February  2d.     I  was  sent  over  to  Richmond  to  Alabama  hospital  number  22. 

For  some  time  before  this  date  I  was  ill.  The  cornbread  diet  gave  me  severe 
heartburn  and  had  reduced  me  in  weight  so  much  that  I  could  walk  but  a  few 
steps  at  a  time.  I  did  not  wish  to  go  over  to  the  hospital  but  was  finally  induced 
to  do  so  by  the  sergeant  of  our  squad. 

The  soup  furnished  us  was  very  thin — no  salt  and  only  slight  evidence  that 
meat  had  been  boiled  with  it.  Many  days,  as  you  may  observe  in  record  of 
diary,  nothing  but  this  soup  was  issued.  I  speak  of  a  loaf  of  bread — this  was 
very  small  in  size. 

On  our  arrival  at  the  hospital,  myself  and  others,  including  H.  W.  Smith 
of  Company  B,  were  assigned  to  a  room  in  which  were  about  30  cots  nearly  all 
occupied.  Eight  of  us  were  compelled  to  lie  on  the  bare  floor  and  use  such 
covering  as  we  brought  with  us  from  Belle  Isle.  I  had  no  covering  of  my  own. 
A  comrade  shared  a  lousy  blanket  with  me.  I  asked  the  ward  master,  who  was, 
by  the  way  a  Northern  soldier  named  A.  S.  Patrick  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  how 
long  before  we  could  get  cots.  He  replied,  "It  won't  be  long,  men  are  dying 
every  day."  He  was  right.  In  about  five  days  eight  bodies  had  been  carried  out. 

I  secured  a  cot  next  to  Comrade  Smith.  From  this  date  to  April  16th,  1864, 
I  kept  no  diary.  I  was  too  sick  for  several  weeks  to  do  so.  I  was  in  the  hospital 
for  about  one  month.  During  this  time  many  men  died  and  their  places  were 
promptly  filled  by  others.  The  prevailing  trouble  was  chronic  diarrhoea.  The 
food  given  us  here  was  small  in  amount  and  damnable  in  quality,  the  greater 
part  of  it  being  cornbread  without  salt  and  made  from  corn,  ground  cobs  and 
all  and  baked  hard  on  top  and  bottom  and  heavy  in  the  middle. 

This  diet  was  more  fatal  than  the  bullets  of  the  enemy  as  it  produced  ag 
gravated  diarrhoea.  Many  of  the  patients  became  so  sick  they  could  not  eat  the 
bread  nor  anything  else  furnished,  the  result  being  they  became  gradually  weaker 
and  weaker  and  finally  died,  having  literally  starved  to  death. 

Comrade  Smith  in  his  last  days  became  delirious 'and  would  very  often  call 
for  something  to  eat,  although  he  had  several  pieces  of  cornbread  hidden  under 
his  pillow.  I  could  eat  more  than  I  got.  Smith  had  no  sooner  breathed  his  last 
than  I  crawled  out  of  my  cot  and  secured  his  uneaten  bread.  Of  the  14  of  our 
regiment  taken  prisoners  December  14th,  ten  literally  starved.  Amos  Mullin, 
Lieutenant  C.  M.  Hart,  John  Miles  and  myself  survived,  Miles  dying  immediately 
on  his  arrival  home. 


Life  in  Prison  and  Hospital  357 

I  made  inquiry  after  my  release  and  was  informed  that  we  were  the  only  sur 
vivors  of  the  list.  Later  I  became  somewhat  better.  A  clerk  was  needed  in  an 
other  hospital  so  Wardmaster  Patrick  recommended  me  to  the  surgeon  in  charge, 
Dr.  Sims,  and  I  was  taken  to  this  hospital,  the  name  of  which  I  have  forgotten, 
and  given  a  clerkship  in  the  office,  where  I  found  three  other  Yankee  clerks,  viz. 
Lieutenant  Robinson  of  an  Illinois  regiment,  A.  S.  Palmer  of  New  Jersey  and 
Sergeant  John  W.  Flintham  of  Eighth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry.  My  duty  was  to 
assist  in  keeping  the  death  register,  etc.  From  this  time  on  I  had  enough  to  eat, 
such  as  it  was  and  consequently  gained  gradually  in  strength. 

While  in  this  hospital  I  saw  many  pitiable  sights.  Every  morning  the  dead 
wagon  would  be  drawn  into  the  court  yard  to  the  dead  house  and  loaded  with 
those  who  died  the  preceding  day  or  night  and  the  number  was  not  small.  Many 
deaths  from  dry  gangrene  from  frozen  feet  were  recorded,  probably  frozen  on 
Belle  Isle.  In  the  month  of  March  there  were  recorded  293  cases  of  chronic 
diarrhoea,  250  of  which  were  fatal.  Nearly  all  of  these  men  came  over  from 
Belle  Isle  on  stretchers;  some  could  walk  with  assistance.  They  were  starved 
down  to  mere  skeletons. 

A  few  days  before  the  16th  of  April  the  clerks  were  ordered  to  make  out  in 
triplicate,  parole  sheets,  a  list  of  such  prisoners  as  were  considered  convalescent 
and  were  to  be  sent  down  the  James  River  for  delivery  to  our  flag  of  truce  ex 
change  boat.  I  assisted  in  securing  the  signatures  of  the  men.  On  the  afternoon 
of  the  day  before  our  departure  I  added  my  name  without  consent  of  the  hos 
pital  steward,  to  the  parole  sheets  hoping  to  get  away  without  discovery.  I  was 
detected  in  the  crowd  when  the  names  were  called,  and  ordered  to  return  to  the 
office.  I  broke  clown  and  shed  tears,  begging  the  steward  to  let  me  go.  I  was 
weak  but  still  strong  enough  to  tell  a  good  healthy  lie  or  two.  I  gave  him  a  line 
of  talk  about  my  mother  being  a  widow  and  that  father  had  died  since  I  enlisted 
and  that  I  wanted  to  go  home  and  help  support  the  family.  This  melted  the 
steward  who  interceded  with  Surgeon  Sims  and  I  was  allowed  to  go. 

We  were  loaded  into  ambulances,  taken  down  to  the  river  and  loaded  on 
the  Rebel  exchange  boat,  which  very  carefully  picked  her  way  down  the  river  past 
the  bombs  and  mines  laid  to  protect  Richmond  from  Yankee  gunboats,  and  after 
pulling  alongside  the  steamer  "New  York,"  our  flag  of  truce  boat,  we  were  taken 
aboard  the  "New  York"  on  which  waved  the  glorious  Star  Spangled  Banner.  I 
looked  around  and  saw  iron  cots  with  clean  linen  and  blankets,  smelled  good  old 
Government  Java  coffee,  looked  up  and  took  another  good  look  at  the  flag  and 
then  cried  like  a  baby.  On  the  18th  we  reached  Baltimore  and  I  was  sent  to  Pat 
terson  Park  hospital.  On  25th  of  April  I  was  sent  to  Annapolis  to  Convalescent 
Camp,  and  on  25th  of  May  reached  the  regiment  at  North  Ann  River. 

Now  a  few  words  about  the  treatment  accorded  our  prisoners  on  Belle  Isle 
and  in  the  Richmond  hospitals.  The  winter  of  1863-4  was  an  unusually  cold  one 
entailing  untold  suffering  for  our  men.  At  the  time  of  capture  in  nearly  all  in 
stances  the  overcoats,  and  in  most  cases  under  my  observation,  the  blankets  of 
our  men  were  confiscated,  now  and  then  one  being  retained;  I  should  say  about 
one  in  four  blankets  were  left  us. 

In  our  tent  previously  mentioned,  there  were  18  men.  At  night  we  laid  spoon 
fashion  for  mutual  warmth ;  when  one  turned,  the  whole  bunch  was  compelled  to. 


358     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Many  of  our  party  had  very  sore  hips,  their  bones  having  almost  pricked  through. 
At  my  location  I  had  a 'couple  of  small  holes  dug  in  which  to  plant  my  sores. 

There  was  a  bank  thrown  up  around  the  camp  on  top  of  which  the  Rebel 
guards  were  posted.  On  the  inside  of  the  bank  was  a  shallow  ditch  about  eight 
feet  wide.  Our  men  were  told  not  to  enter  this  space  under  penalty  of  being  shot. 
Many  men  were  shot  for  an  infraction  of  this  rule,  and  for  alleged  impertinence 
and  various  other  excuses. 

When  the  new  recruits,  or  "fresh  fish"  as  we  termed  them,  arrived,  many  of 
them  were  compelled  to  lie 'in  the  streets  without  protection  from  the  cold,  the  re 
sult  being*that  a  good  many  deaths  occurred  from  exposure,  etc.  No  wood  was 
furnished  for  fires  except  in  say  three  or  four  instances  when  a  small  stick  about 
two  inches  square  and  18  inches  long  was  given  each  prisoner.  Several  times  I 
whittled  my  sticks  into  shavings  and  after  pounding  up  some  bones  I  had  saved 
built  a  fire  and  made  some-called  soup,  as  I  had  gnawed  the  bones  before,  all 
the  nourishment  I  procured  was  a  few  globules  of  fat.  Narrow  lanes  boarded  up 
about  eight  feet  high  on  each  side  were  built  from  the  camp  to  the  river.  As 
the  fence  neared  the  river  the  lane  widened  and  extended  out  into  the  water. 
Narrow  plank  walks  extended  out  to  open  and  very  crude  water  closets  or  sinks. 

Now  and  then  a  dog  would  stray  into  our  camp,  but  never  strayed  out.  It 
would  be  caught,  killed,  skinned  and  eaten.  More  than  once  I  saw  a  Yank  ped 
dling  small  slices  or  pieces  of  dog  meat  and  calling  out,  "A  slice  of  good  fresh 
meat,  ten  cents  in  money,  or  a  dollar  in  Confed,"  meaning  Confederate  money.. 
Once  in  a  while  a  man  could  be  found  among  us  who  had  managed  to  save  a  little 
money  from  his  captors.  In  such  cases  he  could  arrange  with  the  more  honest 
guards  to  secure  edibles  from  outside  the  camp.  I  was  dead  broke  when  captured. 

In  the  hospitals  very  little  medicine  was  given  our  men,  possibly  on  account 
of  scarcity  of  same  caused  by  the  blockade  or  other  reasons.  Personally,  I  don't 
think  so.  While  working  in  the  office  I  had  access  to  a  couple  of  daily  papers 
published  in  Richmond.  I  read  in  one  of  them  a  sentence  like  this :  "We  here  in 
Richmond  are  doing  more  to  end  the  war  than  they  are  in  the  field;"  evidently 
referring  to  the  excessive  mortality  in  the  hospitals,  and  prison  camps. 

The  treatment  of  prisoners  by  the  Confederacy  is  a  somber  and  enduring 
stain  upon  her  record.  Admitting  the  plea  of  her  limited  resources,  yet  much — 
very  much — might  have  been  done  to  prevent  or  alleviate  the  horrors  of  her 
prisons. 

Ample  room,  good  water,  plenty  of  wood  to  keep  the  men  warm  would  have 
cost  nothing.  There  were  many  ^  localities  in  the  South  remote  from  the  field 
of  the  operation  of  our  armies  where  all  those  could  have  been  provided.  The 
prisoners  themselves,  under  proper  guard,  could  have  built  comfortable  huts  for 
their  own  shelter  against  the  elements. 

The  cold,  the  exposure,  the  bad  water,  the  crowding,  the  unspeakably  filthy 
lack  of  the  most  rudimentary  sanitation,  probably  had  almost  as  much  to  do  with 
the  frightful  mortality  as  the  bad  and  meager  rations.  Moreover  the  South  was 
not  as  poor  in  food  supplies  as  is  sometimes  thought  and  Sherman's  large  army 
on  the  march  to  the  sea  found  abundance  for  its  subsistence. 


Life  in  Prison  and  Hospital  359 

It  was  want  of  system  quite  as  much  as  want  of  means  that  caused  the  Con 
federacy  to  fail  in  properly  subsisting  its  own  army  and  so  woefully  treating  her 
prisoners.  Whether  the  latter  arose  from  want  of  means  or  system  or  simple  in 
sensibility  to  their  privations,  the  fact  remains. 

Even  in  the  retrospect  and  under  the  mellowing  influences  of  47  years  after, 
it  is  difficult  for  me  to  speak  in  any  degree  of  moderation  of  those  prison  pens, 
and  they  will  ever  be  remembered  and  regarded  by  those  who  suffered  there  and 
by  those  whose  loved  ones  died  there  as 'places  of  indescribable  misery  and  horror. 

If  the  South  had  not  the  means  to  care  for  her  captives,  then  rather  than 
subject  them  to  the  conditions  prevailing  in  her  prisons  the  dictates  of  humanity, 
even  amid  the  bitterness  of  war,  should  have  impelled  her  to  parole  them  until 
duly  exchanged  and  what  was  done  cannot  be  justified,  and  impartial  history  will 
neither  condone  nor  forget  it,  and  Andersonville,  Belle  Isle  and  other  spots  are 
dark  chapters  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  history  of  a  Christian  land. 

Nicolay  and  Hay  in  their  life  of  Lincoln  in  a  chapter  treating  on  prisoners 
of  war  say,  "The  spirit  of  the  times,  the  circumstances  of  the  case  which  made 
those  horrors  possible  are  gone  forever.  The  readers  of  the  present  day  could  not 
make  the  proper  allowance  for  them  and  the  naked  story  of  those  who  came  alive 
out  of  Libbey,  Belle  Isle -and  Andersonville  would  awaken  either  incredulity  or  a 
feeling  of  resentment  which  is  undesirable  to  excite." 


360     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


FROM  COLUMBIA,  S.  C.,  TO  KNOXVILLE,  TENN. 

CAPTAIN  R.  G.  RICHARDS 

Asylum  Prison  Camp,  about  five  acres  in  area,  was  a  part  of  the  grounds  be 
longing  to  the  State  Asylum,  situated  in  Columbia,  S.  C.  The  prison  was  en 
closed  by  a  very  high  board  fence,  near  the  top  and  outside  of  which  was  a  plat 
form,  all  round,  on  which  the  guards  walked  their  beat,  night  and  day. 

Between  500  and  600  Federal  prisoners — all  commissioned  officers — were  there 
confined,  subsisting  on  cornmeal  and  sorghum.  The  diet  through  the  long 
months  was  varied  only  to  sorghum  and  cornmeal.  Some  of  the  prisoners  were 
provided  with  shelter,  others  were  not ;  those  of  us  who  had  been  taken  into  that 
camp  from  the  Richland  County  jail  in  the  City  of  Columbia,  in  most  cases,  had 
no  shelter  from  about  the  1st  of  December,  1864,  until  the  beginning  of  February, 
1865.  Lieutenant  James  E.  Catlin  of  Company  I  and  myself  had  stuck  together 
from  the  hour  of  our  capture  in  the  Battle  of  the  Crater,  July  30th,  1864,  until  my 
escape  February  16th,  1865.  We  were  among  those  who  had  only  the  ground  for 
a  bed  and  the  sky  above  for  covering,  until  the  first  part  of  February,  1865,  when 
in  some  way  we  got  possession  of  sufficient  canvas  for  shelter.  Lieutenant  Cat 
lin  was  a  part  of  the  time  in  the  hospital  with  a  very  serious  attack  of  pneumonia. 
Many  a  night  I  watched  over  him  when  he  was  delirious  and  apparently  uncon 
scious  of  his  surroundings.  He  was  convalescent,  however,  when  we  left 
Columbia. 

How  to  escape  was  always  an  interesting  theme  of  conversation  among  the 
prisoners,  and  many  and  devious  were  the  plans  suggested  and  undertaken.  Some 
were  successful.  For  instance,  one  night  it  was  quite  dark,  and  wood  was  brought 
into  the  camp,  several  guards  marching  in  with  the  negro  carriers.  A  prisoner 
got  a  long  slender  stick  of  wood,  and  stood  with  it  at  shoulder  arms.  Bringing 
up  the  rear  of  the  guard  he  marched  out  in  company  with  the  other  Johnnies, 
who  were  also  carrying  their  guns  that  way. 

But  the  monotony  of  that  miserable  existence  was  broken  at  last.  On  the 
14th  day  of  February,  1865,  we  heard  in  the  distance  the  booming  of  artillery. 
We  knew  what  it  meant.  Sherman  was  approaching.  The  sound  was  music  to 
our  ears.  We  sang  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and  cheered  with  our  might 
the  cannon's  roar.  But  we  were  soon  told,  "Yous'  Yanks  must  stop  that  or  we'll 
open  our  guns  on  you."  And  sure  enough  the  port-holes  were  opened  and  we 
plainly  saw  that  the  guns  were  ready  for  deadly  work.  While  our  demonstra 
tions  of  joy  were  not  so  hilarious  after  that,  they  were  just  as  intense;  and  it  was 
plain  to  be  seen  on  the  countenances  of  the  guards  and  their  officers  that  they 
realized  the  tables  were  turning. 

That  night  we  were  all  ordered  to  be  ready  to  march  in  an  hour  and  a  half. 
That  did  not  take  us  long,  as  we  had  nothing  to  get  ready.  We  were  always 
ready.  The  night  was  dark,  cold  and  rainy,  and  when  the  head  of  the  column 
reached  the  railroad  depot  we  had  to  stand  in  our  places  in  the  rain  for  two 
hours.  We  'were  then  ordered  to  about  face  and  march  back  to  camp.  The 
people  of  Columbia  had  become  panic  stricken  and  had  taken  possession  of  the 


From  Columbia,  S.  C.,  to  Knoxvillc,  Tenn.  361 

train  to  escape  from  the  city.  On  returning  to  prison,  although  armed  guards 
every  20  feet  or  so  were  on  either  side,  several  of  the  prisoners  got  away.  One 
I  now  remember,  Captain  Rourke,  an  artillery  officer,  dashed  out  between  two 
of  the  guards,  leaped  the  fence  and  was  gone.  One  of  the  guards  in  astonish 
ment  said  to  the  other,  "Jim,  did  yous'  see  that  a'r  Yank  jump?"  "Yes,  he 
jumped  like  h — 11,  didn't  he?" 

At  four  o'clock  the  following  morning  we  were  again  marched  to  the  depot 
and  packed  like  sardines  in  box  cars,  with  an  armed  guard  at  the  door  of  each 
car.  Near  one  end  of  my  car  a  large  hole  had  been  broken  through  the  floor, 
and  through  it  could  be  seen  three  or  four  small  pigs  sniffling  about  under  the 
car.  One  of  the  prisoners  emptied  the  crumbs  from  his  haversack  on  the  ground 
for  the  pigs.  He  then  reached  down,  caught  one  of  the  piglets  by  the  snout, 
butchered  it,  and  divided  it  among  us  as  far  as  it  would  go.  It  was  done  so 
silently  and  skillfully  that  the  guard  at  the  door  never  knew  or  suspected  what  was 
being  done.  When  the  pig  attempted  to  squeal  several  of  us  had  a  spell  of 
coughing.  When  'all  was  over  and  the  pig  was  in  our  haversacks,  every  little 
while  some  of  us  wrould  grunt.  Finally  the  guard  asked,  "What  is  the  matter 
with  yous'  Yanks  ?"  then  said,  "I  must  have  a  car  of  hogs  on  my  hands." 

Finally  the  train  started  for  Charlotte,  N.  C.  Our  car  was  so  crowded  that 
we  all  had  to  lie  down  at  the  same  time.  We  called  it  "spoon  fashion."  About 
midnight  the  engine  ran  off  the  track  and  was  disabled.  In  that  condition  we 
remained  until  morning.  I  find  the  following  account  in  my  diary:  "I  could  not 
sleep;  it  was  too  cold.  February  16th,  Thursday.  An  engine  came  to  our  as 
sistance,  and  away  we  started  for  Charlotte.  We  were  issued  a  cracker  and  a 
little  piece  of  pork.  Arrived  at  Charlotte  a  little  after  dusk,  and  remained  in 
the  car  all  night.  We  suffered  a  great  deal  for  want  of  room.  February  ITtfa; 
Friday.  This  morning  before  leaving  the  cars  for  camp,  an  order  was  read  to 
us  to  the  effect  that  a  general  exchange  (of  prisoners)  was  agreed  upon.  But 
it  is  considered  a  canard ;  we  have  heard  so  many  rumors  of  the  kind." 

I  did  not  believe  the  exchange  order  was  true,  and  determined  to  escape  from 
prison  if  possible. 

We  were  placed  in  a  field  near  a  large  tract  of  woodland,  and  perhaps  a 
mile  from  Charlotte.  Guards  were  placed  around  our  camp  in  the  usual  way. 
About  noon  of  that  day,  February  17th,  I  went  up  to  one  of  the  guards,  who 
was  an  elderly  man,  and  said,  "You  see  it  is  going  to  rain.  I  don't  want  to  be 
compelled  to  lie  in  the  mud.  We  have  no  shelter.  Won't  you  let  me  go  into 
the  edge  of  the  woods  and  gather  some  brush  and  leaves  of  which  to  make  a 
bed  ?"  Hesitating  a  little,  he  asked  me  if  I  would  be  sure  to  come  back.  I  said 
of  course  I  would.  (Here  I  plead  guilty  to  a  little  prevarication.)  He  then  said, 
"You  can  go  out  tha'r,  but  don't  go  too  far."  I  said,  "All  right." 

I  did  go  out  and  gathered  some  brush  and  leaves,  and  continued  to  gather 
leaves  until  on  the  16th  day  of  March  when  I  reached  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

It  was  necessary  of  course  to  go  some  distance  in  the  woods  to  find 'the  right 
kind  of  brush  and  leaves.  When  far  enough  to  be  beyond  musket  range,  I  ran  as 
far  as  I  could.  Whither  I  knew  not.  When  I  stopped  to  get  my  breath,  a  sen 
sation  of  utter  loneliness  and  of  strange  unrestraintness  came  over  me.  For  over 
six  months  I  had  been  a  prisoner,  all  of  which  time,  look  where  I  would,  an 


362     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

armed  soldier  clad  in  gray  marked  the  line  beyond  which  I  dared  not  go ;  but 
now  I  was  out  in  the  wide  world,  alone  and  a  stranger  in  an  enemy's  country, 
hundreds  of  miles  from  where  I  could  lie  down  in  safety  or  see  a  friend,  other 
than  those  I  had  left  in  yonder  prison  camp. 

But  very  soon  Adjutant  Muffly,  who  had  also  escaped,  came  in  sight.  To 
gether  we  moved  on,  until  we  came  to  a  small  stream  over  which  lay  a  fallen 
tree ;  as  we  passed  over  we  heard  men  coming  in  our  direction.  Immediately 
we  got  behind  a  large  log  and  watched,  thinking  we  were  being  pursued.  When 
they  approached  near  enough  we  recognized  them  as  escaped  prisoners  like  our 
selves.  Our  meeting,  as  may  be  imagined,  was  a  cordial  one.  They  were  Adju 
tant  James  L.  Hastings,  Seventh  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  (brother  of  the  late 
Governor  Hastings  of  Pennsylvania),  and  Lieutenant  Richard  Cooper 
of  a  New  Jersey  regiment.  The  four  of  us  at  once  sought  a  place  of  hiding, 
which  we  found  near  enough  to  the  public  road  to  ward  off  suspicion,  and  far 
enough  therefrom  not  to  be  heard  by  travelers.  There  we  discussed  and  deter 
mined  our  plan  of  campaign.  Westward  was  the  course,  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  our 
objective  point.  It  was  also  agreed  between  us  that  each  one  in  his  turn  should 
procure  food  and  information,  and  if  discovered  and  taken  in  the  enterprise  the 
others  were  to  leave  him  to  his  fate  and  themselves  escape,  if  an  attempt  to 
rescue  him  would  result  in  the  recapture  of  the  others.  We  were  to  travel  at 
night  and  conceal  ourselves  during  daylight.  We  each  cut  a  stout  stick  of  wood 
for  weapons. 

Lieutenant  Cooper,  whom  we  all  called  "Dick,"  cut  on  the  bark  of  his  stick, 
"Death  to  Dogs."  Our  circumstances  and  preparation  brought  to  my  mind  that 
up-start  climbing  Alpine  Heights,  of  whom  Longfellow  sang,  and  thus  expressed 
it  to  the  others: 

"The  shades  of  night  were  falling  fast 

As  o'er  the  muddy  roads  there  passed, 

Four  Yankees,  bearing  each  a  stick, 
On  one  of  which  was  cut  by  Dick, 
'Death  unto  Dogs."' 

When  darkness  came  we  started  on  our  journey  full  of  hope  and  determina 
tion  to  reach  our  goal.  Our  haversacks  were  empty,  so  it  became  necessary  to 
replenish  them  as  soon  as  possible.  After  a  few  miles  of  travel  we  saw  negro 
shanties.  I  think  Cooper  volunteered  to  go  first.  He  knocked  lightly  at  the 
door,  which  was  partly  opened.  A  voice  from  within  asked  "Who  da'r?"  When 
Cooper  saw  it  was  a  black  face  he  said,  "Yankee."  Immediately  the  negro  said, 
"Good  Lor'  Massa,  how  dun'  ye  get  here  without  dem  dogs  gettin'  ye?  Any 
more  out  da'r?"  "Yes."  "Well,  we  heard  dat  some  Yankees  got  ter  way  from 
Charlotte  to-day,  and  massa's  been  watchin'  de'  barn,  fear  dey  would  steal  de' 
hosses.  Come  in  hea'."  Soon  Cooper  returned  to  us  accompanied  by  several 
negroes,  who  brought  corn  pone  and  bacon  enough  to  last  us  a  whole  day,  for 
which  we  paid  them  seven  dollars  in  Confederate  money.  After  telling  them  the 
general  direction  we  intended  to  go,  they  said  that  we  would  have  to  cross  the 
Catawba  River ;  then  one  of  them  proceeded  to  give  us  directions  (it  being  un 
derstood  that  it  was  our  purpose  to  avoid  public  roads.)  "Do  yous'  see  dat 
star  over  dar?"  (pointing.)  "Yes."  "Well,  you  go  for' dat  star  to  a  place"  (de 
scribing.)  Then  "Do  you  see  dat"  (still  pointing.)  "Yes."  "Well,  yous'  go 


The   Escaped   Union   Prisoners 

(1)     Lieutenant  Richard  Cooper,  X.  J.  Inf. 
i     Adjutant  John  L.  Hastings,  Seventh  Pa.  Res.  Inf. 
(3)     Captain  R.  (i.  Richards,  Co.  G.  45th  Pa.  Inf. 


From  Columbia,  S.  C.,  to  Knoxville,  Tenn.  363 

for  dat  star  and  yousMwill  get  to  de  bridge,  but  watch  out,  they  dun  lik'ly  be 
watching  for  yous." 

We  bade  them  all  goodbye  and  started,  keeping  our  eyes  steadily  on  the 
first  star.  Through  the  brush,  climbing  over  fallen  trees,  sometimes  crawling 
under  them,  picking  our  way  as  best  we  could  over  the  stony  ground,  often  over 
our  shoe  tops  in  water,  we  reached  the  place  from  where  we  were  to  go  for  the 
other  star,  and  finally  arrived  at  the  bridge  across  the  Catawba.  Cautiously  we 
crept  along.  Luckily  the  guard  had  left  his  post,  and  we  passed  over  unmolested. 

By  this  time  Lieutenant  Mufifly,  who  was  not  strong  physically,  was  showing 
signs  of  exhaustion.  On  his  feet  was  an  old  pair  of  women's  shoes  which  after 
our  experience  that  night  were  literally  torn  to  pieces,  and  his  feet  were  very 
sore.  We  came  to  a  high  rail  fence.  Hastings  and  Cooper  had  gone  over  it, 
but  poor  Mufifly  in  attempting  to  climb  over  fell  back  exhausted.  With  my  help 
he  tried  a  second  and  a  third  time  but  could  not  make  it.  He  begged  me  to  stay 
with  him.  Hastings  and  Cooper  were  going  on.  It  was  nearing  daybreak.  To 
stay  meant  my  giving  up  the  escape  and  being  recaptured.  I  could  not  aid  him 
in  any  event,  so  with  a  sorrowful  heart  I  bade  him  goodbye,  and  advised  him  to 
go  to  the  house  nearby  and  give  himself  up.  I  soon  caught  up  with  the  others. 

It  was  now  time  to  find  a  place  of  concealment.  We  went  a  distance  into  the 
forest  and  laid  down,  "spoon  fashion,"  to  rest.  We  were  soon  asleep.  About 
ten  o'clock  I  awoke.  Three  dogs  were  barking  at  us.  I  also  heard  chopping  not 
far  away.  Upon  waking  my  bed-fellows  they  too  at  once  took  in  the  situation. 
We  crawled  up  to  the  brow  of  the  hill  and  saw  a  white  man  at  his  work  near  by. 
Quietly  we  passed  down  the  hill,  into  a '  ravine,  and  with  accelerating  steps  got 
farther  into  the  forest  and  remained  the  rest  of  the  day. 

That  night  it  was  very  dark,  and  we  went  cautiously  along  the  public  road. 
We  heard  a  negro  approaching,  so  stepped  aside  into  the  woods.  He  came  on 
and  in  a  stentorian  voice  was  preaching  a  sermon  to  an  imaginary  congregation, 
for  he  was  alone.  As  he  came  opposite,  Hastings  hailed  him.  To  say  that  the 
preacher  cut  short  his  sermon  is  to  put  it  mildly.  That  voice  out  of  the  dark 
ness  so  terrified  him  that  for  the  moment  he  could  not  speak,  but  later  said: 
"Who  is  dat?"  Hastings  said,  "Yank."  Then  came  the  exclamation:  "Dear 
Lor'  Massa,  God  bless  yous !"  After  a  little  conversation  he  said  that  a  white 
Union  man  lived  not  very  far  away,  by  the  name  of  Beasly.  We  followed  him 
to  Beasly's  but  found  he  was  not  at  home. 

We  again  got  on  the  "Big  Road,"  and  after  traveling  several  miles  we 
reached  the  plantation  of  a  Mr.  Broadway.  One  went  to  a  negro  shanty,  and 
after  making  himself  known  was  told,  "Good  Lor',  Massa,  don't*  go  no  farder.  My 
Massa'  he  heard  dat  the  Yanks  dun  got  away  from  Charlotte,  an'  he's  just  gon' 
ahead  with  his  gun  for  to  geard  de  bridge.  We  hasn't  much  to  eat;  Massa's 
berry  hard  on  us."  Another  negro  in  the  house  said,  "Come  with  me,  I'll  gib 
you  something  to  eat."  So  we  followed  him  through  the  darkness ;  the  way  was 
long,  painfully  rough  and  steep,  but  at  last  our  guide  said,  "Now,  you  hide  be 
hind  dat  bush,  and  I'll  fetch  yous  something."  Shortly  our  dusky  friend  returned 
with  hoe  cake,  white  bread  and  a  little  butter.  He  also  brought  a  shirt  and  a 
white  cotton  coat.  In  presenting  the  shirt  he  said  with  a  great  deal  of  earnest 
ness,  "I  neber  wore  em,  Massa,  it  am  a  new  shirt."  Cooper  gladly  and  grate- 


364     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

fully  accepted  the  shirt,  but  the  white  coat  would  not  answer  our  purpose,  so  we 
declined  that,  although  we  were  suffering  from  the  cold  because  our  clothes  were 
thin,  much  worn  and  ragged. 

Our  friend  then  piloted  us  for  five  miles  in  a  way  to  avoid  the  guarded 
bridge,  we  so  narrowly  escaped.  He  then  directed  us  (astronomically)  how  to 
proceed.  "You  folio'  dat  star  (pointing),  and  you  will  come  to  where  two  roads 
jine;  yous  take  the  right-hand  road  till  yous  come  to  de  railroad;  dar  in  de 
shanty  yous  will  fin  a  great  big  fat  darkey;  he  is  de  watchman  and  has  a  great 
big  stove  in  dar,  so  yous  can  get  warm ;  him's  all  right.  He'll  tell  yous  how  to 
go  to  Lincolnton.'' 

We  followed  the  directions  of  our  friend,  and  we  struck  the  junction  of  the 
roads.  When  we  reached  the  railroad,  sure  enough  there  in  his  shanty  was  the 
"great  big  fat  darkey,"  and  he  was  all  right.  After  getting  well  warmed  by  the 
red-hot  stove  we  pursued  our  course  as  directed  by  our  big  and  jolly  informant 
until  daybreak,  then  concealed  ourselves  in  the  angle  formed  by  two  fallen  trees 
and  close  to  the  bank  of  a  small  stream. 

This  was  Sunday  morning,  February  19th.  The  day  was  fair.  About  noon 
while  we  were  engaged  in  ridding  ourselves,  as  best  we  could,  of  things  loath 
some  and  ravenous,  that  infested  our  clothes,  (things  which  were  inseparable 
from  and  unavoidable  in  our  prison  experience),  an  armed  Confederate  soldier 
came  in  our  direction  and  in  the  way  we  had  come.  He  crossed  the  little  stream 
a  short  distance  above  us,  and  passed  down  on  the  other  side,  not  more  than  15 
feet  away.  We  all  watched  him  most  intently,  but  fortunately  for  us  all,  he  did 
not  see  us;  his  eyes  did  not  turn  in  our  direction.  Utterly  oblivious  of  our 
presence  he  passed  on  unconcerned  whistling  a  tune,  whether  the  "Bonnie  Blue 
Flag,"  or  "Dixie,"  we  did  not  notice ;  we  were  not  interested  in  the  tune. 

Greatly  amused  over  the  incident  and  thankful  for  our  deliverance,  we  at 
once  changed  our  base  of  operations. 

That  night  we  took  the  railroad  track  until  reaching  a  station  about  six  miles 
east  of  Lincolnton.  A  locomotive  was  close  at  our  heels  when  we  neared  the 
station.  We  went  into  the  edge  of  the  woods  that  skirted  the  railroad,  and  from 
behind  the  trees  listened  to  the  soldiers  who  got  off  the  train.  When  the  train 
started  we  followed  and  reached  the  outskirts  of  Lincolnton  about  midnight 
There  was  great  excitement  in  the  town,  and  apparently  at  the  depot,  government 
stores  were  in  great  haste  being  loaded  on  the  cars.  We  were  inclined  to  believe 
that  some  of  our  forces  were  in  close  proximity. 

Through  briers  and  bushes  we  flanked  the  place,  careful  to  keep  at  a  respect 
ful  distance  from  the  houses.  At  last  just  before  daybreak  we  got  into  communi 
cation  with  colored  people  on  the  Kensler  plantation  and  were  invited  to  go  into 
one  of  the  houses.  In  short  order  and  without  any  request,  we  were  supplied 
with  corn  pone  and  bacon.  Several  of  the  colored  colony  came  in  and  among 
them  an  old  patriarch.  His  head  was  almost  white.  Isaac  was  his  name.  He 
talked  almost  incessantly,  and  we  were  glad  to  listen.  He  could  read  and  always 
carried  a  Bible  in  his  pocket.  He  told  us  about  the  people  and  the  cause  of  the 
war.  He  knew  about  the  great  battles,  which  side  had  won,  etc.  Among  many 
other  things  he  said,  "Befo'1  de  war,  young  Massa  Kensler  asked  me  if  I  thought 
the  government  could,  under  the  constitution,  coerce  a  State.  I  said,  'I  knows 


From  Columbia,  S.  C.}  to  Knoxville,  Tenn.  365 

nuffin  about  your  constitution,  Massa,'  an'  taking  my  Bible  from  my  pocket  says, 
'Dar  is  my  constitution.'  'Dat  am  all  right,'  says  Massa,  'but  we  are  going  to 
have  an  awful  war,  and  the  Yanks  am  coming  down  here.  Now,  Isaac,  which 
side  does  you  think  am  going  to  win?'  I  said,  'I  don't  know  nuffin  about  dat, 
Massa.  Yous  know  more  than  I  does.  But  in  dat  ar'  constitution  of  mine  in 
a  certain  chapter  of  Daniel  and  such  a  verse  it  says,  'De  king  of  the  North 
and  the  king  of  the  South  shall  war  against  each  other,  an'  the  king  of  the  North 
shall  destroy  the  king  of  the  South.'  Dat's  all  I  know  about  it,  Massa.'  " 

But  in  the  midst  of  his  talk  he  said,  "Massas,  it  am  gettin'  daylight;  yous 
had  betta'  go  an'  hide  in  de  woods,  and  'bout  ten  o'clock  I  will  bring  a  white  man 
to  yous."  We  said,  "Isaac,  we  do  not  want  to  see  the  face  of  a  white  man  here. 
We  can  trust  you  colored  people,  but  not  the  white  men."  Isaac  said,  "Him's  all 
right,  Massa,  I  knows  him."  Having  confidence  in  Isaac,  we  permitted  him  to 
bring  the  white  man  to  us.  We  were  at  once  taken  to  a  place  of  concealment. 
About  10  o'clock  on  the  20th  day  of  February,  as  we  were  shivering  with  cold 
and  wet  to  the  skin — it  had  rained  all  morning — Isaac  came  and  brought  with 
him  a  Mr.  J.  H.  Marsh,  a  loyal  white  man,  who  proved  a  real  friend  in  need. 
Mr.  Marsh  brought  with  him  cornbread  and  onions,  and  a  bottle  of  brandy  which 
was  very  acceptable  as  we  were  chilled  to  the  bone. 

According  to  arrangement  that  night  when  it  was  dark  Mr.  Marsh  brought 
with  him  a  Mr.  Ballard,  and  they  took  us  across  the  south  branch  of  the  Catawba 
River  to  Oakville  (or  Confederate  Laboratory.)  Mr.  Marsh  manufactured  liquor 
for  the  Confederacy  there.  When  we  reached  Oakville  the  lights  were  out  until 
we  turned  in  at  a  gate,  a  door  was  opened,  and  then  we  met  Mrs.  Marsh.  I  shall 
never  forget  her  sweet,  pleasant  and  genial  face.  She  extended  to  us  a  warm 
welcome.  She  was  a  real  Massachusetts  woman,  born  and  reared  in  the  "Old 
Bay  State."  She  was  a  credit  to  the  commonwealth  of  her  birth,  and  justly 
proud  of 'her  noble  lineage.  A  table,  with  scrupulous  cleanliness,  was  spread  with 
all  that  would  have  tempted  the  appetite  of  an  epicurean.  It  is  easier  to  imagine 
than  to  express  our  feelings  of  gratitude  and  appreciation  as  we  sat  there,  re 
cipients  of  such  genuine  and  gracious  hospitality.  Think  of  us ;  escaped  prisoners 
from  a  Rebel  prison-pen,  with  roast  turkey  and  all  that  roast  turkey  implies, 
spread  out  so  daintily  and  plentifully  before  us. 

On  that  subject  all  I  have  to  say  is  that  we  did  not  lie  down  hungry  that 
night,  and  the  evidence  of  our  keen  appetite  wonderfully  pleased  our  fair  hostess. 
After  our  repast  we  were  taken  for  quite  a  distance  to  an  old  grist  mill  and 
were  introduced  to  several  members  of  the  "Loyal  League,"  (we  were  not  asked 
for  our  credentials  before  admission.)  The  league  consisted  of  40  members  in 
that  vicinity.  They  loved  the  old  Flag  of  their  fathers  and  gloried  in  its  history. 
They  venerated  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

On  our  return  about  midnight  to  the  Marsh  residence,  and  after  a  pleasant 
conversation  with  our  host  and  hostess,  we  were  taken  to  Mr.  Marsh's  barn. 
There  in  the  mow  among  the  cornfodder  we  made  our  bed.  Mr.  Marsh  kept 
his  mules  in  the  barn,  and  when  feeding  the  mules  he  brought  corn  for  them  in 
a  basket.  It  was  plain  to  anyone  passing  on  the  outside  that  he  was  feeding  his 
mules,  because  one  could  hear  him  throw  the  corn  into  the  manger !  But  if  one 
were  inside  the  barn,  he  could  also  have  seen  that  the  contents  of  the  basket  were 


366     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

not  all  corn.     When  the   mules  got   their   share,   the   basket   was    conveniently 
passed  up  to  us,  and  in  it  we  found  our  provender  also. 

We  remained  in  the  neighborhood  of  Oakville  until  the  26th  of  February,  a 
part  of  the  time  in  the  barn  of  a  Mr.  Wizewell.  While  there  Mrs.  Marsh  got  a 
negro  blacksmith  to  make  a  knife  for  her  son.  The  blade  was  made  from  an  old 
file,  the  handle  all  in  one  piece,  and  the  back  forming  the  spring  with  one  rivet. 
'She  intended  it  for  me.  I  have  it  still;  a  precious  souvenir  of  the  days  spent  in 
Oakville.  We  were  also  given  $35  each  in  Confederate  money  and  some  plug 
tobacco  to  help  pay  our  expenses. 

We  concluded  to  pass  ourselves  off  as  exchanged  prisoners  belonging  to  the 
Confederate  army,  having  been  in  prison  at  Camp  Chase,  O.,  and  on  our  way 
home  to  East  Tennessee  on  furlough.  Accordingly  we  prepared  papers  to  that 
effect.  I  assumed  the  name  of  R.  G.  Allender.  I  do  not  remember  the  names 
assumed  by  Hastings  and  Cooper.  I  have  the  original  document  before  me. 

Richmond,  Virginia, 

February  22d,  1865. 
To  all  whom  it  may  concern — 

R.  G.  Allender,  a  corporal  of  Captain  Wm.  S.  Hunter's  Company  I,  First  Tenn 
essee  Infantry,  aged  27  years,  5  feet  8  inches  high,  light  complexion,  blue  eyes, 
and  by  profession  a  farmer,  is  hereby  furloughed  for  30  days   (being  a  paroled 
prisoner),  to  visit  his  home  at  Jonesboro,  East  Tenn. ;  then  to  report  to  his  com 
mand  at  Dalton,  Ga.,  or  wherever  it  may  be,  or  be  considered  a  deserter. ' 
Subsistence  has  been  furnished  to  said  R.  G.  Allender  up  to  this  date. 
By  order  of  Secretary  of  War, 

S.  COOPER, 
Ad't  and  Inspector  Gen'l. 
(Endorsed.) 

Corporal  R.  G.  Allender,  Company  I,  First  Tennessee  Infantry  has  a  fur 
lough  to  visit  his  home  in  Jonesboro,  Tenn." 

Charlotte,  N.  C,  February  23d,  1865. 

Permission  is  granted  Corporal  R.  G.  Allender,  Company  I,  First  Tennessee 
Infantry,  to  pass  to  his  home  in  Jonesboro,  Tenn. 

Wm.  I.  Hoke,   Colonel  Commanding  Post. 

The  Hoke  signature  was  nearly  as  good  as  the  genuine.  Mr.  Marsh  had 
shown  us  several  of  Colonel  Hoke's  own. 

We  made  a  written  statement  concerning  the  loyalty  of  Mr.  Marsh,  and  the 
protection  afforded  us  by  him,  signing  our  names  officially,  as  we  did  for  several 
of  our  Union  friends.  I  also  wrote  a  letter  which  purported  to  have  been  writ 
ten  by  sister  Mary,  (  I  had  no  sister  by  that  name),  in  Jonesboro,  Tenn.,  which 
I  had  received  while  in  prison  with  the  Yanks  in  Camp  Chase,  O.  Among  other 
news  the  letter  stated  that  Tom  Smith  and  Mary  Jones  were  married,  describ 
ing  in  some  detail  the  wedding,  and  that  father  had  raised  right  smart  of  corn, 
and  a  few  molasses. 


From  Columbia,  S.  C.,  to  Knoxvillc,  Tenn.  367 


I  was  quite  familiar  with  the  geography  of  East  Tennessee,  and  of  the  dialect 
and  customs  of  the  people  (having  been  there  with  my  regiment  through  all  of 
the  campaigns  under  General  Burnside),  and  so  posted  Hastings  and  Cooper 
where  to  claim  their  places  of  residence,  and  some  things  they  could  say  if  occa 
sion  required  it.  Generally  for  that  reason  it  devolved  upon  me  to  act  as  spokes 
man  for  our  party. 

Mr.  Marsh  had  given  me  a  Rebel  jacket,  which  replaced  my  blue  summer 
blouse.  So  far  as  our  clothes  were  concerned  we  could  pass  off  for  either  Yank 
or  Johnnie.  It  was  all  the  same. 

On  the  night  of  the  26th  of  February  three  ordinary  looking  "Johnnies" 
sallied  forth  on  their  way  to  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  The  roads  were  very 
muddy.  We  trudged  on  until  morning  and  now  concluded  to  risk  traveling  some 
in  daylight.  A  tributary  of  the  Catawba  had v  to  be  forded.  It  was  only  about 
three  miles,  as  we  understood,  and  having  gone  some  distance  we  concluded  to 
ask  a  woman  which  road  to  take.  She  said,  "The  left-hand  road."  We  trav 
eled  several  miles  and  then  discovered  that  we  were  about  five  miles  from  the 
ford.  We  went  back  and  again  took  the  wrong  road  and  finally  found  ourselves 
six  miles  away.  However,  that  night  we  reached  the  ford  about  ten  o'clock,  and 
as  it  looked  to  us,  we  were  fortunate  in  not  reaching  it  in  daylight  as  the  people 
living  on  the  bank  at  the  ford  were  rank  Rebels. 

The  stream  was  swift  but  we  plunged  through,  and  went  about  four  miles 
farther ;  and  then  laid  down  in  a  barn  for  the  night. 

The  next  morning,  February  28th,  we  were  told  that  the  river  at  the  ford 
was  so  high  we  could  not  cross  it.  The  following  day,  March  1st,  it  was  still 
raining,  but  we  nevertheless  started  about  noon  to  reach  the  Catawba  River, 
which  we  did  late  that  night.  About  a  mile  before  reaching  the  Catawba  we 
passed  through  the  village  of  Morristown,  and  as  it  was  very  dark,  we  were 
unmolested.  When  we  reached  the  river  we  at  once  made  preparations  to  cross 
by  taking  off  our  clothes,  intending  to  hold  them  up  out  of  the  water.  I  have 
often  wondered  what  possessed  us  to  undertake  this.  We  would  have  been  as 
likely  to  succeed  in  wading  the  Mississippi  as  to  have  forded  the  Catawba  that 
night.  Hastings,  the  magnificent  fellow  that  he  was,  being  the  tallest,  took  the 
lead,  but  before  he  had  gone  ten  feet,  the  water  was  up  to  his  armpits,  while 
before  him  dark  and  deep  moved  the  mighty  flood,  at  least  300  feet  to  the  oppo 
site  bank.  Hastings  got  back  safely  and  told  Cooper  and  I  not  to  venture.  His 
admonition  was  unnecessary  after  what  we  had  seen. 

It  was  still  raining.  We  then  went  along  the  bank  of  the  river  thinking  that 
we  might  find  a  bridge  to  cross.  At  last  we  came  to  the  abutment  of  a  bridge 
but 'the  bridge  itself  was  gone.  Near  the  bank  was  a  large  tree,  and  under  its 
spreading  branches  we  laid  down  to  rest.  It  rained  nearly  all  night.  When 
daylight  came  we  saw  three  straw  stacks  in  a  field  about  a 'quarter  of  a  mile 
away — just  one  apiece.  Each  made  a  hole  in  his  respective  stack  big  enough 
to '  crawl  into,  and  then  pulled  the  straw  down  in  front.  We  described  it  as 
pulling  the  hole  in  after  us. 

We  hoped  from  our  place  of  concealment  to  catch  sight  of  a 'colored  man, 
but  none  appeared.  About  midday  we  had  become  so  chilled  that  our  chins  trem 
bled  and  we  shook  all  over  like  aspen  leaves.  It  was  very  cold  and  our  clothes 


368     Fort\-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

were  soaking  wet.  We  felt  that  if  \ve  remained  any  longer  we  would  surely 
perish.  Thus  driven,  we  determined  to  make  a  bold  strike  for  relief.  Going  to 
where  a  house  stood  on  the  opposite  bank  we  called  as  loud  as  we  could  for 
some  one  to  ferry  us  across  the  river.  We  did  not  have  long  to  wait.  A  man 
rowed  over  and  asked  us  who  we  were.  We  told  him  that  were  exchanged 
prisoners  going  home  to  East  Tennessee.  "How  did  you  get  here?"  was  the 
next  question.  Had  he  stopped  there  we  would  have  been  a  little  puzzled,  but 
before  'we  answered  he  asked  us  if  we  had  come  in  on  the  train.  We  answered, 
"Yes,"  "Well,"  said  he,  "You  must  have  come  here  mighty  quick  because  the 
train  only  whistled  a  little  while  ago."  We  had  not  heard  the  train  or  our  an 
swer  would  probably  have  been  a  little  different.  We  told  him  we  were  in  an 
awful  hurry. 

He  questioned  us  no  farther  but  told  us  to  get  into  the  boat,  which  we  did. 
Across  we  glided.  We  offered  him  some  tobacco  for  his  trouble  (we  had  been 
supplied  with  a  small  quantity  of  the  article,  for  such  use,  by  our  friends  in 
Oakville).  He  answered,  "No,  I'll  take  nothing.  Yous  have  suffered  enough 
from  those  ar'  Yanks  in  prison.  Take  the  left-hand  road  to  that  big  brick  house 
yonder  and  they'll  tell  ye  the  way  to  Lenville  Ford."  "Thank  you,"  and  "good 
bye,"  we  answered,  and  away  we  went,  but  not  by  way  of  the  "big  brick  house." 

Shortly  we  came  upon  three  or  four  negroes  engaged  in  piling  up  brush  in 
the  woods,  who  surprised  us  considerably  because  they  seemed  to  doubt  our 
story.  They  didn't  believe  we  were  Yankees.  Finally  we  seemed  to  convince 
them  and  then  asked  them  why  they  doubted  us.  They  said,  "Because  a  short 
time  ago  some  men  dun  come  along  he'a  and  tell  us  they  be  Yanks,  and  asked 
us  which  way  they  should  go.  We  dun  tells  'em  and  dey'den  said  they  were  not 
Yanks  at  all.  And  Massa'  dun  give  us  an  awful  whipping  for  it." 

They  then  told  us  of  the  nearest  and  less  public  way  to  Lenville  Ford. 

We  had  gone  but  a  short  distance  when  in  crossing  the  road  we  were  inter 
cepted  by  a  squad  of  Confederate  cavalry.  There  was  no  hiding  now.  The  offi 
cers  commanded  us  to  halt.  "Who  are  you  ?"  "Exchanged  prisoners,  sa'h,  going 
home  to  East  Tennessee,"  (with  the  accent  on  the  Tenn)  was  our  reply.  "What 
army  do  you  belong  to?"  "Hood's  army,  sa'h."  "Where  is  Hood's  army?""" 
We  gave  him  such  information  as  we  thought  would  please  him  best,  although 
little  did  we  know  about  Hood's  army,  or  its  whereabouts.  "Where  were  you 
in  prison?"  "In  Camp  Chase,  O.,  sa'h."  "Well,  don't  stay  home  too  long,  good 
bye."  "Goodbye,  sah's,"  and  we  gladly  hurried  on  in  the  rain  until  we  reached 
a  place  near  Lenville  Ford  where  we  rested  for  the  night. 

Next  morning,  March  3d,  we  took  up  our  line  of  march.  Our  feet  were  very 
sore  and  bleeding.  We  had  no  socks  but  the  ones  we  had  on,  and  they  were  stiff 
with  mud.  We  limped  considerably  at  the  start,  but  when  limbered  up,  as  we 
call  it,  we  got  along  better. 

Lenville  River  is  a  rapid  mountain  stream,  and  by  reason  of  the  continuous 
rains,  the  current  was  very  swift  and  strong.  At  the  ford  it  was  waist  deep. 
We  were  compelled  to  get  long  poles  to  brace  against,  to  avoid  being  carried 
down  stream.  Hastings  and  I  managed  by  hard  struggling  to  get  across,  but 
Cooper,  the  lightest  of  the  three,  was  carried  off  his  feet  and  landed  on  a  rock 
in  midstream.  He  managed  to  get  back  and  on  his  second  attempt  succeeded  in 
crossing. 


From  Cokimbia,  S.  C.,  to  Knoxville,  Tenn.  369 

We  now  began  the  ascent  of  Lenville  Mountain  and  reached  the  summit 
about  2  P.  M. 

I  notice  my  diary  mentions  somewhat  in  detail  the  magnificent  scenery 
which  we  beheld  as  we  stood  there  viewing  the  beautiful  and  sublime  panorama 
which  met  our  gaze.  When  we  had  descended  almost  to  the  base  of  the  moun 
tain  on  the  western  side  we  were  again  met  by  a  squad  of  Confederate  cavalry. 
There  was  no  way  to  escape  so  we  boldly  kept  the  road.  "Halt,  who  are  you?" 
was  the  salutation.  Here  we  were  subjected  to  a  rigid  examination.  I  acted  as 
spokesman,  as  already  stated,  on  account  of  my  familiarity  with  East  Tennessee. 
The  other  two  'put  in  a  word  occasionally  by  way  of  emphasis,  and  to  establish 
our  "good  faith."  For  instance :  When  I  was  asked  where  I  lived  in  East  Ten 
nessee,  Hastings  would  answer,  unasked,  for  himself,  and  Cooper  likewise. 

The  officer  finally  seemed  satisfied  that  we  were  genuine  "Confeds,"  and  that 
we  were  going  home  on  furlough.  He  then  imparted  to  us  a  valuable  and  in 
teresting  piece  of  information.  Said  he,  "You  are  going  up  the  Blue  Ridge. 
Now  let  me  tell  you  that  you  will  have  to  be  mighty  careful.  There  are  a  lot 
of  fellows  living  in  those  mountains  who  call  themselves  Union  men.  But  they 
are  nothing  but  Yanks.  If  they  find  you  out  you  are  dead  men  sure.  Yes,  they'll 
kill  you."  We  thanked  him  for  the  information  and  assured  him  that  we  would 
be  mighty  careful.  At  his  urgent  request  we  promised  to  return  soon  to  our 
commands  as  the  army  was  pressingly  in  need  of  men  at  the  front. 

As  we  were  going  on  our  way  felicitating  one  another  on  our  cleverness  and 
success,  and  on  the  bright  prospect  of  finding  friends  in  the  mountains,  we  saw 
only  a  short  distance  away,  three  armed  men  standing  in  line  across  the  road ; 
one  a  noncommissioned  officer.  They  were  evidently  prepared  for  emergency. 

Apparently  unconcerned,  we  walked  up  to  them,  and  were  peremptorily  com 
manded  to  stop. 

The  sergeant  plied  questions.  We  answered.  Each  told  him  his  company, 
regiment,  and  army  corps ;  also  about  our  experience  in  Camp  Chase ;  where  our 
homes  were  in  East  Tennessee,  and  how  long  it  had  taken  us  to  get  to  that  place 
from  Richmond,  Va.  To  our  astonishment,  pointing  his  finger  at  me  he  said, 
"I  believe  you  are  a  Yankee,  sa'h."  I  immediately  and  emphatically  resented 
the  "insult."  I  told  him  that  I  had  not  fought  for  my  country  in  so  many  bat 
tles  to  be  called  a  Yankee.  That  I  would  not  stand  for  it  from  him  or  any  one 
else.  I  became  belligerent  and  said,  "I've  got  my  papers  here  to  show  you,"  and 
was  pulling  them  out  of  my  pocket,  when  he  said,  very  coolly  yet  firmly,  "Never 
mind  your  papers,  sa'h."  He  then  asked  us  if  we  were  going  up  the  mountain. 
We  said,  "No,  that  we  were  going  into  that  house  (which  was  near),  to  get 
something  to  eat."  "Well,"  said  he,  "I  reckon  we'll  go  in  there  too."  We  did 
not  ask  for  their  company.  It  looked  dubious.  We  felt  that  there  was  going  to 
be  trouble  sure.  The  house  was  the  residence  of  a  Mr.  Wiseman,  who  we  had 
been  told  was  inclined  to  be  a  Union  man.  It  was  a  long  log  house  with  two 
front  doors,  as  is  common  in  that  country. 

We  went  in  at  the  farther  door,  and  all  sat  down  before  an  old  fashioned 
log  fire.  After  chatting  a  few  minutes  I  went  into  the1  other  part  of  the  house 
through  the  other  front  door,  and  was  invited  to  take  a  seat  at  the  fire.  It  was 
Miss  Wiseman  who  spoke.  She  was  a  young  woman  with  a  good  and  kindly 


370     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

face.  She  said  to  me,  "You  look  very  tired,  sa'h.  Are  you  sick?"  I  said  that 
I  was  tired  but  was  not  sick.  Then  said  she,  "Let  me  make  a  little  warm  drink 
for  you,  it  will  do  you  good."  I  gladly  and  thankfully  accepted. 

While  she  was  preparing  the  warm  drink  at  the  glowing  log  fire,  we  talked 
about  the  war  and  the  condition  of  the  country.  I  asked  her  if  our  people  were 
not  getting  mighty  tired  of  the  terrible  war.  She  said  that  a  great  many  felt  that 
way  about  it.  As  our  conversation  progressed  I  became  pretty  well  satisfied  that 
she  was  not  very  much  of  a  Rebel.  We  finally  agreed  that  the  war  ought  to 
cease,  and  that  the  South  would  never  succeed  in  dissolving  the  Union.  We  be 
came  quite  friendly.  Realizing  that  our  little  party  was  in  desperate  straits,  I 
resolved  to  take  the  risk  of  asking  Miss  Wiseman's  assistance. 

I  said  to  her,  "If  I  were  to  confide  to  you  a  secret  w7hich  did  not  involve  a 
crime,  but  which  if  disclosed  might  cost  me  my  life,  would  you  betray  me?"  She 
replied  very  emphatically  that  she  would  not.  I  believed  her  and  said,  "I  am 
going  to  tell  you  such  a  secret  and  will  do  it  with  the'  utmost  confidence  in  your 
honor  as  a  lady."  I  then  said,  "We  are  three  escaped  prisoners  trying  to  reach 
the  Federal  lines  in  East  Tennessee."  She  expressed  much  surprise.  I  then 
asked  her  how  we  could  avoid  the  Confederate  guards  who  were  in  the  other 
part  of  the  house.  She  smiled  and  said,  "You  go  right  in  there  and  tell  them 
who  you  are."  But  I  replied,  "That  would  mean  recapture."  She  said  that  if 
she  had  thought  that  would  be  the  result  she  would  not  have  advised  me  so.  I 
said,  "I  believe  you.  I  know  you  would  not  deceive  me."  She  answered,  "They 
are  all  right."  With  perfect  confidence  I  went  to  where  the  guards  and  my  com 
panions  sat  at  the  fire.  Hastings  and  Cooper  looked  discouraged  and  dejected, 
as  though  they  had  not  a  friend  in  the  world. 

I  stood  there  a  minute,  then  said  deliberately  and  distinctly,  "Sergeant,  why 
don't  you  take  off  that  gray  uniform  and  put  on  a  blue  one?"  Hastings  and 
Cooper  looked  up  at  me  in  wild  dismay.  As  they  afterwards  told  me,  they 
thought  I  had  lost  my  mind ;  was  crazy.  But  before  either  had  time  to  speak 
I  continued.  "Yes,  Sergeant,  you  love  the  old  Flag  and  the  government  of  your 
fathers  better  than  you  do  the  Confederacy  and  its  stars  and  bars.  Why  not 
come  with  us  and  fight  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  the  glorious  emblem  of  Lib 
erty  and  Union?  The  stars  and  bars,  you  know,  stand  only  for  dis-union  and 
the  right  to  own  niggers."  The  sergeant  looked  up  half  smiling  and  said,  "It 
is  all  right,  boys.  Those  are  about  our  sentiments.  I  thought  you  were  Yankees. 
We  will  do  you  no  harm.''  By  this  time  we  were  all  on  our  feet  shaking  hands. 
It  was  like  a  love  feast. 

I  believe  it  is  Will  Carleton  who  says : 

"To  appreciate  Heaven  well, 
'Tis  good  for  a  man  to  have  some  fifteen  minutes  of  hell." 

We  remained  at  Wiseman's  over  night.  At  his  request  we  gladly  gave  him 
what  he  called  "protection  papers;"  substantially  a  statement  in  writing  duly 
signed,  setting  forth  that  Mr.  Wiseman  was  a  Union  man ;  that  he  and  his  fam 
ily  had  treated  us  kindly,  and  that  they  should  be  protected  against  all  harm  to 
themselves  and  property  by  the  Federal  forces,  in  the  event  that  they  reached  the 
premises  of  Mr.  Wiseman. 


From  Columbia,  S.  C.,  to  Knoxvillc,  Tenn.  371 

I  might  state  here  that  the  protection  papers  given  to  our  friends  answered 
them  to  good  purpose.  In  about  six  weeks  after  we  passed  through  that  part  of 
North  Carolina,  General  Stoneman  at  the  head  of  our  cavalry  penetrated  at  least 
as  far  as  Lincolnton.  Mr.  Marsh  wrote  me  November  5th,  1865 : 

"General  Stoneman  captured  this  place  about  six  weeks  after  you  left.  They 
put  me  in  charge  of  it.  We  have  part  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Indiana 
Infantry  here  at  present." 

The  letter  is  still  in  my  possession. 

On  the  following  morning,  March  4th,  we  began  our  journey  up  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountain,  accompanied  by  two  of  the  "Confederate  guards."  After  trav 
eling  about  three  miles  one  of  them  left  his  gun  and  accoutrements  and  joined 
our  party  to  the  end,  and  at  Knoxville  enlisted  in  a  Tennessee  regiment.  We 
called  him  "our  galvanized  Rebel."  He  enjoyed  the  title  like  the  rest. 

Our  party  numbering  four  reached  the  Foe  River  that  afternoon,  but  we 
failed  to  ford  it.  The  river  was  so  deep  and  swift  that  we  had  to  travel  around 
the  bend  and  over  the  mountains.  We  reached  Childsville  that  night.  Here  we 
met  a  fellow  who  said  he  was  a  Yankee,  and  that  his  name  was  Samuel  A. 
Tilden.  We  believed  he  was  a  genuine  "bounty  jumper"  from  our  army.  There 
were  more  of  that  sort  called  "Tories,"  who  under  the  guise  of  being  Northern 
men,  robbed,  harrassed  and  abused  peaceable  citizens  simply  because  they  were 
in  sympathy  with  the  South.  A  real  simon-pure  "B.  J."  would  revel  in  that 
brand  of  patriotism.  The  Tories  were  disliked  and  discredited  by  the  real  Union 
men  of  the  mountains. 

On  the  6th  of  March,  on  our  way  to  Crab  Orchard,  we  saw  the  snow 
capped  summits  of  the  majestic  Roan  and  Yellow  Mountain  peaks.  The  coun 
try 'was  rugged  and  primitive.  The  scenery  was  beautiful,  but  as  Josh.  Billings 
said,  "while  such  scenery  was  grand,  it  wouldn't  raise  no  corn."  And  so  it 
looked  to  us. 

By  the  7th  we  were  joined  by  Sergeant  Patterson  Young,  Thirteenth  Ten 
nessee  Cavalry,  of  Bakersville,  Mitchell  County,  N.  C.,  who  was  home  on  fur 
lough.  Sergeant  Young  was  one  of  the  men  who  at  Greenville,  Tenn.,  killed  Gen 
eral  Morgan  the  famous  raider. 

I  find  in  my  diary  that  the  sergeant  delayed  us  because  he  had  to  see  his 
sweetheart  before  starting  that  morning.  Ten  miles  was  a  small  day's  journey. 

That  night  we  were  all  concealed  in  the  barn  of  Mrs.  Carver,  as  there  was  a 
rumor  that  a  band  of  300  Rebels  was  within  14  miles  of  that  place.  Mrs.  Carver 
had  five  sons  in  the  Union  Army. 

The  rumor  was  still  afloat  on  the  9th.  We  came  in  sight  of  several  men 
carrying  rails,  who  seeing  us,  began  to  run.  Our  calling  to  them  that  we  were 
Union  men  was  of  no  avail.  The  9th  was  a  hard  day's  march.  Over  the  moun 
tainsides,  steep  and  stony,  we  passed,  until  we  reached  the  home  of  Mr.  O'Brien, 
an  old  Pennsylvania!!,  83  years  of  age.  He  was  of  the  stern  old  Scotch-Irish 
type.  Venerable,  yet  vigorous,  mentally  and  physically. 

Before  leaving  on  the  following  morning,  March  10th,  Mr.  OBrien  called  us 
all  in  for  family  worship.  He  read  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures,  and  we  all  sang 
an  old  familiar  hymn ;  then  knelt  reverently  while  Mr.  O'Brien  prayed.  His 


37^     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

prayer  was  from  his  heart.  He  implored  his  Heavenly  Father  that  those. in  re 
bellion  against  the  government  might  be  speedily  overthrown;  and  that  the 
union  of  the  States  might  be  preserved.  He  prayed  in  our  behalf,  and  for  those 
in  our  distant  homes.  That  prayer  touched  a  tender  chord  in  our  hearts.  That 
day  we  made  several  miles,  and  reached  the  home  of  William  Parks. 

By  the  llth  of  March  we  reached  the  last  mountain  barrier  between  us  and 
East  Tennessee.  It  was  a  hard,  steady  climb  until  about  3  o'clock  P.  M.,  when* 
we  reached  the  summit  of  Big  Butte,  said  to  be  the  highest  peak  of  the  Smoky 
Mountain  range.  It  was  intensely  cold.  We  thought  our  ears  were  frozen. 

From  the  top  of  that  towering,  majestic  peak,  we  beheld  the  broad,  beautiful 
valley  of  East  Tennessee;  and  in  the  distance,  like  a  low  lying  cloud,  we  dis 
cerned  the  outlines  of  the  great  Cumberland  Mountains;  while  the  silvery 
Holston,  Chucky  and  Clinch  Rivers  flowed  between. 

In  descending  to  the  Valley  of  East  Tennessee,  we  fully  realized  that  we 
were  approaching  the  most  dangerous  and  perilous  part  of  our  journey.  Here 
friends  and  foes  were  about  equally  divided,  and  the  intensity  and  bitterness  be 
tween  the  opposing  sides,  concerning  the  war,  knew  neither  compromise  nor 
mercy.  Sergeant  Young,  our  guide,  was  now  as  ignorant  of  the  way  and  people 
as  ourselves. 

That  very  night  we  lost  our  bearings  and  rambled  about  in  the  forest  until 
about  nine  o'clock,  when  luckily  we  met  a  Mr.  Overhultz,  a  Union  man,  who 
gave  us  a  little  to  eat.  It  was  the  first  mouthful  since  morning.  We  kept  on 
our  way  about  five  miles  farther,  when  some  of  our  party  being  tired  out,  we 
laid  down  to  rest  until  daylight.  That  day  'over  the  rugged  mountainous  coun 
try  we  traveled  about  32  miles. 

March  12th,  early  in  the  morning,  and  keeping  in  the  woods  we  traveled 
about  five  miles,  when  we  concluded  to  get  something  to  eat,  if  possible. 

While  the  rest  remained  concealed,  Hastings  cautiously  went  to  a  house 
nearby.  He  saw  two  women  in  the  house  but  no  men  could  be  seen.  HiS 
conversation  writh  them  soon  disclosed  the  fact  that  they  were  not  Rebels.  He 
then  made  known  to  them  our  presence,  and  signaled  for  Cooper  and  myself 
to  come  to  the  house.  The  woman  had  two  brothers  who  were  then  hiding 
in  a  cave  in  the  woods  not  far  from  the  house.  Soon  the  two  brothers,  tall  and 
lank,  made  their  appearance.  We  all  took  a  "snack"  to  appease  our  appetites 
and  with  the  two  brothers  who  led  the  way  we  went  to  their  hiding  place. 
The  rest  of  our  party  got  their  breakfast  at  Mr.  Overhultz's  (who  was  a  hos 
pital  "steward  in  our  army),  then  joined  us  in  the  cave. 

About  10  o'clock  that  morning,  two  young  ladies,  Misses  Jerusha  and 
Minerva  Woolsey,  living  near  and  having  heard  of  us,  came  to  our  hiding, 
place.  They  expressed  great  fear  concerning  the  dangers  that  surrounded  us. 
They  said  that  Dyke's  guerrillas  were  scouring  the  country,  and  thought  their 
camp  was  not  far  away ;  but  said  they  would  find  the  camp,  and  let  us  know 
about  it.  They  were  the  daughters  of  a  loyal  Tennesseean,  who  as  an  officer 
in  our  army  was  taken  prisoner,  and  as  they  said,  "Starved  to  death  on  Belle 
Isle,  near  Richmond,  Va."  In  about  an  hour  both  of  them  returned,  having 
discovered  the  guerrilla  camp. 


From  Cohimbia,  S.  C.,  to  Kno smile,  Tenn.  373 

When  it  became  sufficiently  dark  that  night,  and  we  were  ready  to  move 
on,  those  splendid  girls  came  again.  They  were  greatly  excited  and  deeply 
concerned  for  our  safety.  They  said,  "We  cannot  let  you  go  by  yourselves. 
We  are  afraid  that  you  will  be  captured  and  that  means  that  you  will  be  killed. 
If  you  will  permit  us,  we  will  guide  you  so  as  to  avoid  the  guerrilla  camp.  We 
have  a  brother  living  about  five  miles  from  here,  and  in  the  direction  you 
should  go."  We  said  we  could  not  permit  them  to  risk  their  lives,  because  if 
we  were  discovered  and  taken,  their  fate  would  be  like  our  own.  They  said 
they  knew  that,  but  would  not  willingly  let  us  go  without  them.  They  took 
the  lead  about  300  feet  in  advance.  It  was  understood  that  if  they  discovered 
danger  ahead,  they  would  lift  their  bonnets.  Both  wore  gingham  bonnets. 

As  we  neared  their  home  the  mother  came  out  to  see  us.  I  shall  never 
forget  her  expression :  "I  do  not  know  you,  but  my  daughters  tell  me  that 
you  are  Union  soldiers,  making  your  escape,  and  that  you  are  gentlemen.  I 
am  willing  that  my  daughters  shall  help  you ;  but  if  you  betray  them,  remem 
ber  I'll  follow  you  to  the  end  of  the  earth!"  We  assured  her  that  her  con 
fidence  in  us  was  not  misplaced,  and  that  we  fully  realized  and  appreciated  the 
sacrifice  she  and  her  daughters  were  making  in  our  behalf. 

On  we  went,  across  fields  and  over  fences.  We  traveled  in  single  file,  and 
as  nearly  as  possible  each  one  placed  his  feet  in  the  tracks  of  the  one  before 
him.  We  had  gone  perhaps  a  mile  or  more,  when  down  in  a  hollow  to  our 
right,  and  near  a  dwelling  house,  a  number  of  dogs  barked  most  furiously. 
Just  then  the  rear  man  (who  was  a  negro,  having  joined  our  party  recently 
to  fight  for  Uncle  Sam),  came  running  up  to  me  trembling  with  fright.  Said 
he,  "Lor',  Massa',  they's  right  after  us.  I  dun  see  'em!  I  dun  see  'em!  Dey 
is  right  after  us,  Massa !"  At  once  I  ran  forward  to  the  young  ladies,  and 
begged  them  to  leave  us  and  save  themselves.  They  said,  "No,  we  will  see 
what  becomes  of  this ;"  firmly  and  undauntedly  there  they  stood  ready  for 
any  emergency.  In  the  meantime  Sergeant  Young  whipped  out  his  revolver,  the 
only  firearm  in  our  party.  We  all  stood  at  his  side  fully  expecting  trouble. 
•We  had  no  reason  to  doubt  the  colored  man.  He,  however,  was  mistaken  but 
the  scene  was  fearfully  realistic  for  the  time. 

Soon  we  came  in  sight  of  the  guerrilla  camp,  pointed  out  to  us  by  our  fair 
and  faithful  guides.  We  passed  to  the  right  and  into  the  woods.  Finally, 
about  midnight,  we  reached  the  log  house  where  the  brother  lived.  After  ex 
pressing  to  our  fair  benefactresses  our  unfeigned  gratitude  for  their  kindness, 
and  our  unbounded  admiration  for  their  heroism  and  courage,  we  bade  them  a 
reluctant  good-bye. 

On  again  we  marched  for  15  miles  until  daylight. 

March  13th.  This  morning  we  got  our  "snack"  at  Mr.  Raider's,  and  con 
cluded  to  go  a  little  farther  by  keeping  in  the  woods,  guided,  with  her  mother's 
consent,  by  a  little  girl  about  12  years  of  age,  to  the  place  of  a  Mr.  Johnson. 
But  after  going  a  short  distance  we  found  it  too  perilous  to  proceed  farther, 
and  had  the  little  girl  bring  Mr.  Johnson  to  us  in  our  place  of  concealment. 
Mr.  Johnson  was  related  to  the  then  Vice  President  Andrew  Johnson.  He 
gave  us  a  great  deal  of  information  regarding  that  part  of  the  country.  Among 
other  things  he  said  that  the  day  before,  only  a  short  distance  from  where  we 


374     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

lay.  Dyke's  guerrillas  had  gone  to  a  house  occupied  by  an  old  man  and  his  wife, 
naming  them  (but  whose  names  I  have  forgotten),  known  to  be  Union  people; 
took  their  money  and  valuables,  shot  the  old  man  dead,  and  struck  the  aged 
wife  over  the  head  with  the  butt  of  a  gun,  and  there  left  them. 

I  well  remember  when  I  reached  Washington,  D.  C.,  I  met  at  the  Old 
Kirkwood  Hotel,  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  a  Tennessee  officer,  who  said  he 
was  from  that  part  of  the  state  through  which  I  had  passed.  I  related  to 
him  the  story  as  told  by  Mr.  Johnson.  Noticing  that  the  man  seemed  wonder 
fully  affected,  I  asked  him  what  was  the  matter.  With  uplifted  right  hand,  he 
said,  "As  true  as  there  is  a  God  in  Heaven,  Dyke  will  die  when  first  he  and 
I  meet.  That  old  man  was  my  own  uncle." 

We  employed  Mr.  Johnson  to  guide  us  on  our  way  that  night.  He  took  us 
through  a  section  called  the  "Nobbs."  We  had  heard  during  the  day  quite  a 
lively  skirmish  between  our  cavalry  and  Dyke's  guerrillas,  and  that  night  passed 
over  the  battleground.  Dead  horses  and  other  evidence  of  the  skirmish  were 
found  lying  around.  It  was  a  little  inspiring.  Things  were  getting  hot. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  having  reached  the  home  of  a  Mr. 
Benjamin  Blazer,  our  guide  left  us  to  return  home.  We  paid  him  $15.00.  Our 
Confederate  exchequer  was  now  getting  very  low.  Here  we  rested  until  day 
light. 

March  14th,  we  again  ventured  (by  keeping  away  from  the  public  roads) 
to  travel  in  daylight  until  about  five  o'clock  P.  M.,  when  we  came  in  sight  of 
Nolichncky  River,  called  the  Chucky  for  short;  a  beautiful  stream,  which  at 
that  point,  was  about  200  feet  wide  and  very  deep.  Cross  that  river  we  must; 
but  to  ford  it  or  swim  across  we  could  not.  At  last,  as  we  stood  in  the  woods 
surveying  the  ground,  we  saw  that  a  broad  field  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide 
lay  between  us  and  the  river;  and  that  a  dwelling  house  stood  near  the  bank 
on  our  side.  We  assumed  that  those  who  occupied  that  house  musl}  necessarily 
have  means  of  crossing  the  stream.  There  was  but  one  thing  left  to  do,  and 
that  was  to  make  a  dash  for  the  river  past  the  house,  and  risk  finding  a  boat 
of  some  kind.  As  fast  as  our  strength  permitted,  we  ran  towards  the  river, 
passed  the  house,  down  the  bank  and  there,  to  our  inexpressible  joy  were  two 
small  boats,  each  supplied  with  oars.  Across  we  rowed  with  all  our  might, 
reached  the  other  side,  clambered  up  the  bank,  and  ran  far  enough  away  to 
be  beyond  rifle  shot,  if  discovered. 

Here  we  stopped  to  rest,  our  strength  almost  exhausted.  The  others  lay  on  the 
ground  while  Hastings,  Cooper  and  I  sat  on  a  log,  looking  in  the  direction 
of  the  river.  Soon  I  turned  my  face  in  the  other  direction  and  saw  in  the 
distance  from  a  high  pole,  a  flag  floating.  At  first  I  could  not  determine  what 
flag  it  was.  I  kept  silent,  hardly  able  to  trust  my  eyes.  At  last  I  felt  sure 
that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  floated  from  that  flag-pole.  Without  saying  any 
thing,  I  nudged  my  companions  and  pointed.  They  at  once  recognized  it.  We 
said  not  a  word,  but  bowed  our  heads  and  wept  like  children.  We  could  not 
speak.  It  was  Old  Glory  floating  in  all  its  majesty  and  beauty,  and  under/  its 
ample  folds  we  were  safe  at  last. 


From  Columbia,  S.  C.}  to  Knoxville,  Tenn.  375 

The  Fourth  Tennessee  Regiment  was  encamped  there,  and  when  we  reached 
the  camp  we  received  such  a  welcome  as  only  old  soldiers  can  give.  The  best  the 
boys  in  blue  had  was  ours  to  eat  and  drink  that  night. 

After  two  days  more  of  tramping  through  the  mud  we  reached  Knoxville 
about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  March  16th,  1865.  Dirty,  ragged  and  tired, 
we  reported  to  the  provost  marshal,  who  directed  us  to  the  army  hospital. 
There  we  were  each  supplied  with  a  large  tub  of  clear  water  for  a  bath ;  and 
fresh,  clean  underwear.  O,  luxury  of  luxuries!  And  then  a  clean  soft  bed  to 
sleep  in.  Our  cup  of  joy  was  full  and  running  over. 

On  the  following  day,  dressed  in  our  old  clothes,  we  had  our  "picture  took." 
We  thought  we  looked  quite  respectable.  Hastings  used  to  tie  his  trousers 
around  his  legs  with  strings,  but  discarded  the  strings  when  we  had  our  "pic 
ture  took."  I  had  on  a  pair  of  hospital  slippers ;  my  old  brogans,  for  which, 
be  it  remembered,  I  paid  a  hundred  dollars  in  Confederate  money  a  few  days 
before  leaving  Columbia,  S.  C.,  were  too  muddy  and  worn  for  so  nice  a  picture. 
Cooper,  the  inimitable  Irish  mimic,  brave  and  big-hearted,  wore  the  same  dis 
reputable  looking  cap  as  when  I  first  saw  him  in  the  woods  near  Charlotte. 

Thus  my  story  ends. 

"When  the  shore  is  won  at  last, 
Who  will  count  the  billows  past?" 


CAPTURE  OF  THE  FLAG  OF  THE  SIXTH 
VIRGINIA  INFANTRY 

We  had  been  notified  the  night  before  that  the  mine  would  be  sprung  in  the 
morning.  Early  on  the  morning  of  July  30th,  1864,  the  regiment  was  formed  and 
at  the  break  of  day  the  explosion  took  place.  We  moved  forward  in  a  column 
of  fours  and  when  we  entered  the  enemy's  works  we  found  a  large  funnel- 
shaped  hole,  very  steep  and  18  or  20  feet  deep.  The  men  dug  foot  holds  so  they 
could  stand  and  see  over  the  side  of  the  works.  Owing  to  the  shape  of  the 
ground  the  men  of  the  different  companies  got  mixed  so  that  there  was  no  order. 
Some  men  of  the  different  companies,  along  with  myself,  went  into  a  pit  to  the 
left  of  the  fort.  The  Rebels  kept  throwing  shells  and  exploding  them  over  the 
works,  killing  and  wounding  many  of  our  men. 

While  in  this  pit  the  Rebels  came  along  a  ravine,  to  the  right  of  the  fort, 
and  swung  round  until  they  got  in  front  of  the  fort  and  with  fixed  bayonets 
made  a  rush  for  the  fort.  When  they  got  close  enough  we  opened  fire  on  them 
and  kept  it  up  until  they  got  within  a  couple  of  rods  of  the  fort.  We  made  it 
so  hot  for  them  that  one  of  their  officers  pulled  out  his  handkerchief  and  shook 
it  in  the  air.  Some  one  on  the  fort  called  out,  "Cease  firing,  they  are  going  to 
surrender!"  As  soon  as  we  ceased  firing  on  them  they  gave  us  a  volley  and 
came  right  on  and  then  the  fight  began  in  earnest.  Hand  to  hand  we  fought 
them  and  made  prisoners  of  them.  Someone  shot  the  color  bearer  and  I  took 
the  flag,  tore  it  off  the  staff  and  rolled  it  up  and  put  it  in  the  bosom  of  my 


376     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   ]^etcrau   Volunteer  Infantry 

shirt.  The  Rebels  were  sending  reinforcements  to  their  men  and  as  no  one 
came  to  our  assistance  we  got  back  into  the  works,  where  the  other  troops 
were.  I  heard  the  major  tell  our  color  bearer  to  take  the  flag  and  go  to  the 
rear,  and  he  told  the  men  if  any  of  them  wanted  to  leave  to  go  as  they  were  go 
ing  to  surrender  the  works.  As  my  term  of  service  expired  on  the  16th  of 
August  and  knowing  the  reputation  of  Andersonville,  I  concluded  to  take  the 
chance  of  getting  awray.  Many  of  our  men  were  wounded  in  trying  to  escape  but  I 
escaped  unhurt. 

Here  I  want  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the  Sixth  Virginia  Infantry.  Notwithstand 
ing  they  lost  their  colors,  men  who  would  charge  through  a  fire  like  the  one 
we  gave  them  are  \vorthy  of  the  name  of  soldiers  in  the  full  meaning  of  the  term. 

I  regret  that  the  lamented  Major  Gregg  is  not  alive  to  tell  the  story  of  that 
fearful  battle. 

FRANK  HOGAN. 

No.  220  A.  West,  Hutchinson,  Kansas. 


A  FEW  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  LATE  WAR 

By  O.  B.  SMITH,  COMPANY  B. 

I  enlisted  the  15th  day  of  February,  1864,  running  away  from  home.  My 
first  initiation  was  the  6th  of  May,  1864,  at  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness.  Dur 
ing  the  charge  in  the  afternoon  on  the  enemy,  Longstreet's  Corps  was  driven 
quite  a  distance,  as  you  remember.  We  were  going  down  to  the  creek  to  fill 
our  canteens,  when  a  Rebel  soldier,  who  was  wounded  in  the  abdomen,  asked 
me  to  give  him  a  drink  of  water.  Returning  from  the  creek  with  my  canteen 
full,  I  raised  his  head  and  saw  that  he  was  not  long  for  this  world.  I  gave 
him  the  drink  of  water.  "Is  there  any  way  I  could  aid  you?"  I  said,  knowing 
well  there  was  not,  and  he  replied,  "No."  I  am  not  superstitious  but  I  think  it 
carried  me  through  the  campaign  of  1864  without  a  scratch. 

Another  incident  which  occurred  at  Cold  Harbor.  On  the  3d  of  June, 
1864,  Joseph  Walton,  Company  B,  had  served  within  a  few  days  of  three  years. 
The  poor  fellow  came  to  me  as  we  were  forming'  and  said :  "I  do  not  feel  like 
going  into  this  engagement."  Knowing  that  he  was  a  brave  fellow  and  had 
lost  a  brother  (Amos)  at  Antietam,  the  17th  of  September,  1862,  I  advised 
him  not  to  go  in.  He  replied  that  it  would  reflect  on  him  if  he  did  not.  The 
order  was  given  to  advance  over  the  open  field.  We  charged  up  to  the  line  to 
within  80  yards,  our  company  covering  an  angle  of  a  battery  of  about  six  guns. 
It  was  not  long  before  we  silenced  the  battery  with  a  loss  to  our  company  of 
14  wounded  and  two  killed.  Poor  Joe  fell,  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember,  about  ten 
o'clock  that  day  and  I  picked  up  the  ball  that  killed  him.  I  handed  it  to  Captain 
Dibeler  and  said:  "Do  you  want  this?"  He  looked  serious  and  replied,  "No." 

John  Hilcher  and  I  were  the  only  two  men  on  our  knees.  The  Captain  told 
me  to  get  down  and  I  replied:  "Let  me  alone!"  Hilcher  was  shot  in  the  head 
and  his  brother  was  killed  on  the  12th  of  May  at  Spottsylvania,  both  struck  in 
the  left  eye.  It  was  getting  quite  serious  and  so  I  took  the  captain's  advice. 


A  Few  Incidents  of  the  Late  War  *   377 

I  was  firing  at  a  man  who  exposed  himself  on  the  Rebel  works  from  behind 
a  big  oak  tree.  We  exchanged  three  or  four  shots  at  each  other  and  they  were 
coming  pretty  close,  one  through  my  sleeve,  one  through  my  forage  cap.  I 
spoke  to  Lawrence  M.  Small.  He  was  the  only  man  in  the  company  who  had  a 
knapsack.  "Lawrence,  throw  your  knapsack  here,  quick,"  I  said.  I  made  a 
breastwork  of  it  and  it  was  fortunate  that  I  did  for  the  ball  went  into  the 
knapsack.  I  said  to  Lawrence:  "Load  both  guns  and  I'll  fire  them."  The 
Rebel  did  not  know  that  I  had  doubled  up  on  him  and  when  he  exposed  himself 
to  look  for  the  result  of  his  last  shot,  I  let  go  and  got  him.  But  they  got  me 
at  last  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

On  the  30th  day  of  September,  1864,  near  the  Weldon  Railroad  they  broke 
through  the  Forty-eighth  New  York  Regiment,  composed  mostly  of  foreign  sub 
stitutes,  and  then  every  man  for  himself.  Major  Cheeseman,  the  color  sergeant 
and  I  all  got  together.  We  were  behind  an  old  abandoned  log  house.  The 
major  commanded  the  sergeant  to  step  out  into  the  road  and  rally  the  colors, 
thinking  our  own  men  were  firing  on  us.  It  happened  to  be  the  Rebels.  We 
abandoned  our  place  then  and  went  to  the  left.  Major  Cheeseman  was  wounded 
in  the  neck  and  also  captured.  They  took  us  to  Petersburg,  to  Richmond  (Libbey) 
and  then  to  Salisbury  prison,  North  Carolina.  There  they  commenced  to 
starve  us.  I  soon  saw  that  the  rations  we  were  getting  would  not  sustain  life 
and  I  commenced  to  scheme. 

The  guards  were  from  60  to  75  years  old,  not  fit  for  active  service  but 
could  do  garrison  duty.  I  noticed  that  they  had  their  clothes  fastened  with 
thorns  and  strings  instead  of  buttons.  Knowing  these  were  products  of  the 
North,  I  got  busy.  I  went  to  one  of  the  guards  about  nine  o'clock  at  a  rea 
sonable  distance  from  the  dead  line.  "Johnny,  how  are  you  on  the  trade?" 
"What  have  you  got?"  he  replied.  "Buttons."  "How  many?"  "Two  dozen, 
what  will  you  give  me  in  return?''  "Hoecake,  sweet  potato  pie,  meat,  tobacco 
and  Confederate  script."  I  met  him  when  he  came  on  the  next  relief  with 
the  supply  and  I  had  my  package  of  dirt  clods  and  pebbles,  representing  the 
size  of  about  two  dozen  buttons.  "Lower  the  commissary  and  here  are  your 
buttons."  I  threw  them  up  so  that  he  could  not  catch  them,  although  they  fell 
on  his  side.  He  told  me  that  he  saw  where  they  fell  and  would  get  them  in 
the  morning  when  he  got  off  duty.  I  carried  this  on  for  about  two  weeks  until 
they  commenced  to  find  my  packages.  One  night  I  went  out  to  the  guard 
and  said:  "How  arelyou  on  the  trade?"  He  did  not  reply  and  thinking  the 
old  fellow  was  hard  of  hearing  I  jumped  the  dead  line  and  repeated  my  ques 
tion.  He  answered  me:  "Get  back  there  you  -  — ,  I'll  give  you  dirt  clods 
and  pebbles."  I  got  back. 

OTIS  SMITH, 
Company  B,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry. 


378     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  A  RECRUIT 

After  a  term  of  service  in  the  South  Atlantic  Squadron,  'U.  S.  Navy,  at 
the  siege  of  Charleston  and  on  blockade  duty  along  the  coast  of  North  Carolina 
and  South  Carolina,  I  \vas  discharged  at  Philadelphia  in  November,  1864,  on 
account  of  the  expiration  of  my  term  of  service.  After  a  week  or  two  visit 
ing  home  folks  I  determined  that  I  would  again  enter  the  service  and  see  the 
war  through,  as  many  of  us  who  had  been  there  were  satisfied  the  end  was  not 
far  off.  I  enlisted  in  the  army  for  infantry  service  and  was  assigned  to  Com 
pany  E,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  then  holding  the  lines  in  front 
of  Petersburg.  At  the  same  time  there  was  quite  a  number  of  other  recruits 
assigned  to  this  regiment  which  had  experienced  severe  service  during  the  sum 
mer  in  the  Wilderness,  Cold  Harbor  and  blowing  up  of  the  Mine  in  front  of 
Petersburg.  In  these  engagements  the  losses  had  been  very  heavy. 

I  found,  on  becoming  better  acquainted,  that  many  of  the  recruits,  like 
myself,  had  experienced  previous  service  and  it  did  not  take  much  training  to 
make  them  effectives.  Some  had  seen  service  in  other  regiments,  others  in  the 
Confederate  Army  and  some  in  the  navy.  To  make  up  the  complement  there 
were  a  few  drafted  men  who  filled  the  quota  from  Northern  Pennsylvania. 

One  of  the  naval  men,  by  the  name  of  Woods,  was  a  shipmate  of  mine  in 
the  South  Atlantic  Squadron.  He  was  a  good  fellow  and  a  brave  soldier,  but, 
like  most  all  mortals,  he  had  a  weakness.  His  was  strong  drink  in  the  face  of 
which  he  was  powerless  as  a  child.  He  would  divide  his  last  dollar  or  risk 
his  life  Willingly  for  a  friend.  He  never  shirked  duty  and  always  did  his  share 
of  service  in  the  trenches,  in  the  attack  or  on  the  march.  He  was  well  up  to 
the  front  in  the  attack  on  Petersburg,  on  the  long  forced  march  after  Lee  to 
Appomattox,  and  in  the  return  to  Petersburg,  City  Point  and  Alexandria, 
where  he  would  have  been  mustered  out  and  received  an  honorable  discharge 
from  the  army  as  he  did  from  the  navy,  if  it  had  not  been  for  his  weakness 
for  strong  drink.  It  came  about  in  this  way.  The  Government  was  behind 
with  the  pay  for  the  men  for  a  good  many  months,  orders  were  allowed  on  the 
sutler  for  a  certain  amount  per  man  for  extras,  and  no  more.  Woods  did  not 
take  long  to  use  up  the  credit  due  him  and  soon  was  thirsty  for  more.  I  had 
better  control  of  my  appetite  and  did  not  draw  on  the  sutler  for  the  amount  I 
had  liberty  to,  and  Woods  thought  he  would  take  advantage  of  this  circum 
stance  to  assuage  his  uncontrollable  desire  for  drink.  He  forged  a  request 
purporting  to  be  from  myself  to  the  captain,  John  Beck,  for  an  order  on  the 
sutler  for  whatever  credit  I  had  due  me  at  the  time  perhaps  about  $10.  At 
the  time  this  was  done,  I  was  enjoying  a  leave  of  absence 'visiting  some  friends 
in  the  Fifth  Corps.  1  am  sure  he  intended  repaying  me  when  he  received  his 
money  from  the  Government.  Captain  Beck  in  the  meantime  found  out  about 
the  transaction  and  ordered  him  to  explain  which  he,  of  course,  could  not  do 
satisfactorily.  Remorse  so  effected  him  that  he  deserted  and  went  back  to 
Philadelphia,  and  so  far  as  I  know  never  got  an  honorable  discharge,  or  his 
record  righted  with  the  Government  for  services  well  performed.  I  am  not  a 
teetotler,  but  what  a  lesson  this  is  on  temperance! 


W.  J.  Arthur 
Co.  E 


Sergeant  Sylvester  Houghton 
Co.  I 


Charles  B.  Sofield 
Co.  I 


Recollections  of  a  Recruit  379 

James  Swain  (alias  Ferrel),  another  recruit  and  tent-mate  had  served  in, 
a  Louisiana  regiment  of  Confederates  and  made  a  good  soldier  for  us.  I  will 
relate  an  incident  in  connection  with  this  comrade,  which  happened  in  the  early 
spring  in  the  month  of  March,  1865,  at  any  rate  it  was  just  before  the  attack 
by  the  Johnnies  on  Fort  Steadman  in  which  the  Johnnies  got  badly  worsted, 
losing  a  great  number  in  killed  and  wounded  and  nearly  2,000  prisoners.  Our 
lines  were  very  close  to  those  of  the  Johnnies.  On  our  front  one  could  easily 
cast  a  stone  from  our  breastworks  into  those  of  the  Johnnies'  advanced  line. 
When  the  air  was  still  and  no  firing  on  the  lines  conversation  in  an  ordinary 
tone  of  voice  could  be  carried  on  between  the  opposing  forces  who  occupied 
the  picket  lines.  It  was  one  of  these  very  still  nights  that  Jim  Swain  and  my 
self,  along  with  some  others,  were  occupying  one  of  the  advanced  picket  posts 
on  duty  and,  as  was  customary,  one  man  would  keep  a  lookout  over  the  breast 
works  while  the  other  occupants  of  the  post  would  keep  a  little  fire  to  warm 
their  feet  and  hands. 

Both  armies  were  made  up  of  all  callings  in  life,  especially  was  this  the 
case  in  ours.  One  comrade,  who  was  the  son  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel  from 
Pittsburg,  whose  name  I  cannot  now  recall,  was  also  an  occupant  of  the  post 
on  this  particular  night.  The  Rebels  during  the  early  morning  were  unusually 
jolly  for  some  reason  for  which  I  cannot  now  account  unless  it  was  like  the 
boy  who  passed  a  lonely  graveyard  on  a  dark  night  and  whistled  to  keep  his 
courage  up.  They  had  a  few  good  singers  among  them  who  gave  vent  in  song 
and  awakened  absent  memories.  Now  a  love  song,  then  the  "Bonny  Blue 
Flag,"  or  something  on  the  order  of  "I'll  lay  ten  dollars  down  and  bet  them 
one  by  one  that  Longstreet  will  do  this,  that,  etc."  The  love  or  sentimental 
songs,  our  boys  would  applaud  to  the  echo  but  the  political  song  would  be 
answered  by  our  boys  with  jeers,  or  in  silence.  Some  one  to  our  right  along 
the  lines  who  could  awaken  the  welkin  with  his  dulcet  tones  would  intersperse 
a  song  at  appropriate  intervals  which  was  treated  by  the  Johnnies  with  the 
same  courtesies  that  our  side  meted  out  to  them.  This  fun  was  carried  on 
with  but  slight  intermission  until  the  day  began  to  dawn  and  we  had  about 
all  the  fun  we  wanted.  There  was  a  quiet  intermission.  The  spirit  at  this 
moment  moved  Comrade  James  Swain  to  attune  himself  and  offer  his  con 
tribution  which  he  did  in  splendid  voice  and  tones  that  must  have  been  heard 
clear  over  and  into  the  city  of  Petersburg.  "Handsome  Mary,  the  Lily  of  the 
West,"  I  am  sure  was  known  ever  afterward  by  the  boys  who  held  the  line 
for  a  mile  either  way.  Just  as  the  last  strains  died  on  the  still  air  some  Johnny 
in  the  shade  of  Fort  Mahone  shouted  in  loud  stentorian  tones,  "Oh,  you  damn 
old  black  Jim,  I  thought  you  were  dead.  What  in  hell  are  you  doing  over 
there  on  the  Yankee  side?  We  thought  you  were  killed  at  Vicksburg?  God 
damn  you,  are  you  fighting  us?"  It  was  needless  to  say  it  was  black  Jim 
Ferrel,  all  right.  Jim  made  no  reply;  for  the  custom  at  the  time  was,  if  one 
deserted  and  was  caught  serving  in  the  enemies'  ranks,  to  punish  by  meting 
out  the  death  penalty,  as  all  will  recollect  who  were  in  those  parts  during  the 
stormy  times. 

Jim  Swain,  alias  Jim  Ferrel,  was  a  dark  complected  Irishman  by  birth. 
His  mother,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond,  lived  in  Meriden,  Connecticut.  Some 
years  previous  to  the  war,  he  left  home  and  went  to  California  to  seek  his 


380     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

fortune.  Not  finding  gold  as  plentiful  as  he  thought  he  ought,  he  had  drifted 
over  into  Texas  and  from  Texas  to  New  Orleans,  La.,  where  he  invested  his 
savings  in  a  hotel.  The  war  breaking  out  soon  after  caught  him  and  he  was 
unable  to  dispose  of  his  property.  Against  his  better  judgment,  as  he  often 
told  me,  he  joined  the  Rebel  army  and  was  with  them  until  the  fall  of  Vicks- 
burg,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner,  sent  to  the  North  and  confined.  At  the 
first  opportunity  he  enlisted  in  our  army  and  was  sent  to  the  front  at  Peters 
burg  where  his  lot  was  cast  with  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers.  He 
made  a  good  soldier,  served  to  the  end  of  the  war  and  was  mustered  out  with 
the  regiment  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  along  with  the  rest  of  us  receiving  an  hon 
orable  discharge.  My  folks,  who  lived  in  Camden,  N.  J.,  soon  moved  to  the 
West  and  I  went  with  them.  The  comrades  mentioned  I  never  have  seen  or 
heard  from  since  we  were  disbanded  and  I  think  they  must  have  crossed  the 
Great  Divide  and  joined  the  silent  majority.  The  veterans  of  our  company 
were  splendid  fellows  and  men  with  whom  it  was  a  pleasure  to  become 
acquainted. 

If  I  might  be  permitted  to  specialize  to  my  mind  at  that  time  Major 
Cheeseman,  who  commanded  the  regiment  in  the  general  attack  on  Petersburg, 
April  2d,  1865,  and  who  lost  his  leg  gallantly  leading  the  van,  and  Captain  Beck 
of  our  company,  with  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  corresponding  after  the  war, 
when  he  went  to  Kansas,  were  ideal  soldiers,  fearless  in  battle  and  square  and 
honorable  in  other  matters. 

W.  J.  ARTHUR. 

Late  of  Company  E,  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry. 
Oklahoma   City,   Okla.,   February  21st,  1910. 


NEVER  ABSENT  A  DAY 

I  joined  and  helped  to  organize  the  Scott  Guards  early  in  May,  1861, 
which  afterwards  became  Company  E,  Forty-fifth  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Vol 
unteer  Infantry,  and  called  into  United  States  service  September  2d,  1861.  I 
served  continuously,  never  absent  a  day,  and  was  discharged  December  31st, 
1863,  at  Blaines  Cross  Roads,  Tennessee. 

Reenlisted  same  day,  came  home  on  30  days'  furlough.  Returned  to  the 
command  and  continued  to  serve  in  the  same  until  September  30th,  1864,  at 
Poplar  Springs  Church  or  Pegrams  Farm,  Va.,  where  I  was  shot  through  the 
shoulders.  The  ball  entered  my  right  shoulder,  fracturing  the  same,  cutting 
my  throat,  passing  under  the  spine,  fracturing  the  same,  and  came  out  on  top 
of  left  shoulder.  This  after  a  service  of  three  years  and  28  days  with  com 
pany  and  regiment,  never  absent  a  day.  I  was  wounded  on  Friday  evening, 
lay  on  field  partially  paralyzed  until  Monday  evening,  when  our  men  came  up 
and  drove  the  Confederates  back.  The  Rebels  took  me  with  them;  on  Tuesday 
they  took  me  to  Petersburg;  on  Wednesday  to  Libbey,  Richmond,  Va.  There 
I  had  the  first  care  for  my  wounds.  They  did  bring  some  cornbread  around 
on  Tuesday  at  Petersburg,  but  my  throat  being  cut  I  could  not  eat  it.  At 


Two  Boys  Off  for  the  War  381 

Libbey  they  gave  me  about  a  tea  cup  of  beef  tea  twice  a  day  until  my  throat 
healed  up,  then  they  put  a  few  grains  of  rice  in  it. 

I  was  exchanged  in  November,  1864,  came  to  Annapolis,  was  there  a  few 
weeks,  then  sent  to  Baltimore.  In  January,  1865,  I  was  transferred  to  the 
Veteran  Reserve  Corps  Company  I,  Eleventh  Regiment.  Was  discharged  from 
that  command  July  30th,  1865,  at  Plattsburg,  New  York. 

Company  I,  Eleventh  Regiment  Invalid  Corps,  was  at  Washington  during 
the  grand  parade,  but  I  did  not  see  much  of  the  parade  as  we  were  on  duty  at 
United  States  Prison,  where  Dr.  Hood  and  Mrs.  Suratt,  the  Lincoln  assassins 
were.  We  had  been  down  at  Point  Lookout,  Md.,  guarding  Confederate  pris 
ons.  After  the  grand  parade  we  were  sent  up  North  to  Plattsburg,  N.  Y., 
where  I  did  my  last  soldiering. 

All  I  missed  of  the  Forty-fifth  service  was  a  little  bit  of  the  last  winter  at 
Petersburg  and  the  march  up  to  Washington.  I  marched  with  the  regiment 
between  5,000  and  6,000  miles,  rode  on  railroad  and  steamboat  6,000  or  7,000 
miles,  total  12,000  or  13,000  miles.  I  was  always  afraid.  I  never  was  so  scared 
as  I  was  the  day  we  blew  up  the  fort  in  front  of  Petersburg*,  when  the  Con 
federates  took  hold  of  some  of  our  men  and  shot  them  there  behind  the  fort. 
They  slipped  in  between  us  and  the  fort  while  we  were  out  on  a  charge.  I 
was  taken  prisoner  there,  but  got  scared,  picked  up  my  gun  again  and  got  away 
over  into  the  blown-up  fort.  I  was  detailed  to  go  for  water.  Haven't  taken 
the  water  up  yet. 

JOHN  G.  HEBERLING, 
Company  E,  Forty-fifth  Regiment, 
Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteers. 


TWO  BOYS  OFF  FOR  THE  WAR 

BY  IRA  ODELL,  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA. 

Company  H  was  raised  in  and  around  Tioga,  Tioga  County,  Pa.  Its  first 
captain  was  E.  G.  Scheiffelin.  The  company  did  not  start  away  all  at  one  time, 
a  few  men  being  taken  at  different  times  to  Harrisburg.  These  men  were  mostly 
from  Farmington,  Middlebury,  and  other  parts  of  the  county,  so  this  gave  two 
boys,  both  somewhat  under  16  years  of  age,  who  had  not  the  consent  of  their 
parents  to  go  to  the  war,  a  chance  to  see  what  they  could  do,  in  order  to  get 
in  the  mixup  between  the  North  and  the  South. 

While  working  for  James  Beebe,  one  day  they  learned  that  on  a  certain 
day  Captain  Scheiffelin,  would  leave  Tioga  for  Camp  Curtin  with  some  recruits. 
So  the  boys  worked  until  noon  and  got  their  dinners  and  then  the  problem 
was  how  to  get  to  the  train.  The  nearest  and  best  road  to  take  was  blocked 
by  both  their  parents  living  near  it.  Consequently  they  started  over  the  old  log 
road  and  other  by-ways  for  Lawrenceville  some  six  miles  away.  It  was  a  rush 
journey  for  they  had  only  two  and  a  half  hours  to  make  the  run  in.  They  were 
some  distance  from  the  station  when  the  train  pulled  in  but  they  managed  to 


382     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

get  aboard  all  right  and  the  first  man  to  greet  them  was  the  captain  himself, 
who  was  glad  to  have  the  boys  along  for  it  would  help  to  fill  up  his  company. 
It  then  lacked  a  number  of  men  of  being  full.  But  here  something  seemed .  to 
worry  him.  The  father  of  one  of  the  boys  had  already  joined  the  company 
and  was  then  in  camp.  But  this  boy  was  so  anxious  to  go  that  the  good  cap 
tain  said  he  would  take  him  along  and  if  the  father  did  not  want  him  to  enlist 
he  would  send  him  back  home  again. 

Those  were  two  happy  boys  who  were  taken  on  that  afternoon  train  from 
Lawrenceville  for  the  capital  city  of  the  State  as  would-be  soldiers.  This  was 
their  first  car  ride  and  they  certainly  enjoyed  it.  The  good  captain  treated  the 
party  royally  on  the  way,  stopping  at  Elmira  about  midnight  for  supper  and 
at  Williamsport  for  an  early  morning  meal.  The  train  reached  Harrisburg 
about  noon  and  the  order  was  given,  "Fall  in !"  What  did  they  know  about 
that  command?  But  it  was  soon  explained  to  them  and  away  they  marched 
for  Camp  Curtin. 

The  boy  whose  father  was  at  that  very  instant  on  duty  near  the  entrance 
gate  was  not  thinking  that  he  would  so  soon  see  his  son  come  marching  into 
camp  and  when  he  did  he  was  dumbfounded  but  did  not  seem  angry  but  urged 
the  boy  to  go  back  home.  But  the  action  of  the  father  made  the  son  braver; 
so  he  told  his  father  that  he  would  stay  and  that  he  should  go  home  and  take 
care  of  his  mother  and  the  little  ones.  This  settled  it  and  father  and  son  both 
remained  and  the  next  day  the  two  boys  were  examined  and  pronounced  fit  to 
stand  and  be  shot  at,  and  father  and  son  were  soon  drilling  side  by  side  and 
learning  what  soldiering  was  likely  to  be.  With  hundreds  of  others  they 
learned  the  art  that  made  the  old  Forty-fifth  one  of  the  best  drilled  as  well 
as  one  of  the  best  fighting  regiments  that  was  in  the  field. 

The  day  soon  came  when  we  \vere  to  leave  Camp  Curtin  for  the  front. 
That  grand  governor,  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  came  into  camp  and  gave  us  a  flag 
tendered  with  one  of  his  good  Union  speeches  that  made  us  all  feel  as  though 
the  war  would  not  last  long  after  we  got  down  there.  The  train  came  up  along 
the  canal  and  we  all  boarded  it  and  soon  were  off  with  the  crowds  cheering, 
and  reached  Washington  the  next  day  near  nightfall  in  a  heavy  rain.  After 
partaking  of  some  coffee  and  salt  horse  served  in  the  old  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
station  we  marched  out  near  Bladensburg  and  went  into  camp. 

For  some  time  while  we  were  here  we  had  only  camp  duty  to  perform 
but  November  was  near  and  the  election  close  at  hand  between  the  Union 
and  Non-union  parties  of  Maryland,  so  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Forty-fifth  to 
go  to  Prince  Frederick.  It  was  a  long  wet  march  and  caused  a  number  to 
fall  sick  among  them  the  boy  whose  father  was  with  him  and  who  became  his 
nurse  on  the  way  back  to  Washington. 

Shortly  after  the  return  of  the  regiment  to  Washington  marching  orders 
were  received  and  the  regiment  joined  the  movement  against  the  islands  near 
Charlestown,  S.  C.  The  sick  boy,  who  had  the  measles,  was  left  behind  and 
did  not  join  his  company  again  until  they  had  landed  at  Otter  Island.  Nothing 
of  much  importance  occurred  here,  but  the  early  spring  of  1862  found  us  crawl 
ing  a  little  nearer  Charleston  Harbor.  Finally  we  reached  James  Island  where 
Companies  H  and  I  got  a  little  touch  of  what  real  war  was  likely  to  be.  This 


Two  Boys  Off  for  the   War  383 

happened  when  a  brigade  of  Johnnies  came  at  them  in  full  force  but  they  never 
gave  ground  and  the  brigade  left  behind  one  Rebel  captain  who  was  very 
angry  at  the  Yankee  boys  for  detaining  him  and  he  indulged  in  the  most  pic 
turesque  swearing  we  ever  listened  to. 

But  another  day  was  coming  and  that  soon  when  we  went  for  them  in 
good  style  but  like  the  brigade  that  went  for  Companies  H  and  I  we  came 
back.  In  this  little  fuss  the  father,  who  had  nursed  the  son,  got  hurt  and  in 
turn  the  son  nursed  the  father.  This  was  of  short  duration  for  the  father 
went  to  the  hospital  and  the  army  moved  back  to  Port  Royal  and  soon  came 
back  North.  There  the  army  helped  against  the  invasion  of  Maryland  and 
the  old  Forty-fifth  as  a  regiment  saw  its  first  fight  at  South  Mountain,  where  it 
drove  everything  in  front  of  it.  Here  for  the  first  time  we  saw  some  of  our 
old  schoolmates  fall  upon  the  battlefield. 

About  this  time  the  father  was  discharged  from  the  hospital  and  took  part 
in  the  engagement.  The  son's  chum  was  also  active  in  all  this  movement  and 
we  had  no  better  soldier  in  our  company  than  O.  P.  Webster.  Another  brave 
boy,  who  was  always  in  the  front  rank,  was  my  bunk  mate,  John  C.  Roosa,  now 
of  Webb  Mills,  N.  Y. 

The  writer  of  this  narrative  was  the  boy  nurse  and  he  followed  the  for 
tunes  of  the  very  best  regiment  that  was  in  the  army  up  to  June  3d,  1864,  at 
Cold  Harbor,  where  he  had  one  arm  knocked  off.  John  C.  Roosa  was  shot 
through  the  breast  at  the  same  moment.  My  father,  Henry  F.  Odell,  only 
lived  a  few  years  after  the  war  and  died  and  is  buried  in  the  National  ceme 
tery  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.  Those  two  boys  were  O.  P.  Webster  and  Ira  Odell. 

Forty-six  years  after  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor  finds  my  old  comrade,  who 
ran  so  hard  with  me  to  get  a  train  loaded  with  recruits  for  Captain  Scheif- 
felin's  company,  a  resident  of  Fitzgerald,  Ga.,  and  myself  a  citizen  of  Rich 
mond,  Va.,  that  old  Rebel  capitol  that  cost  us  so  many  long  and  hard  marches 
and  so  much  fighting.  Comrade  Webster  was  wounded  in  the  Battle  of  the 
Wilderness  and  I  have  never  seen  him  since.  He  recovered  from  his  wound 
and  returned  to  his  company  at  Petersburg  in  time  to  take  part  with  the  old 
Forty-fifth  in  the  closing  scenes  of  the  war. 

I  was  shot  at  Cold  Harbor  and  suffered  the  loss  of  an  arm  and  after  a 
few  months  in  the  hospital  was  discharged  and  sent  home,  which  at  that  time 
was  at  Nelson,  Tioga  County,  Pa.  I  have  visited  most  of  the  old  battlefields 
in  company  with  the  men  who  fought  on  both  sides  and  all  agreed  on  the 
many  brave  charges  made  by  both  sides  and  claim  that  the  credit  for  it  all  be 
longs  to  the  American  soldier. 

A  great  number  of  Confederates  are  living  here  and  a  number  of  Union 
boys  but  with  us  the  war  ended  when  Generals  Grant  and  Lee  came  to  terms 
and  I  hear  but  little  against  the  result.  Few  would  wish  it  different.  Of 
course  there  are  always  a  lot  of  stragglers  of  an  army,  who  saw  little  or  no 
fighting  who  are  not  satisfied,  but  the  men  who  stood  in  the  front  rank  at  all 
times  and  heard  and  felt  the  minies,  grape  and  shell,  shake  hands  as  brothers. 
I  often  visit  the  camps  of  the  United  Confederate  Veterans  and  were  I  some 
great  hero  I  could  not  be  treated  better.  In  fact  I  can  count  among  my  best 
friends,  both  from  a  social  and  business  standpoint,  some  of  the  men  that  fought 


384     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

us  so  hard  during  those  war-time  days,  each  for  the  cause  of  his  side  and  as 
one  old  fellow,  a  Rebel,  expressed  it  to  me  the  other  day,  though  he  claimed 
to  have  been  in  50  battles,  he  was  glad  when  it  was  over  and  Old  Glory  was 
saved  and  that  it  is  at  the  top  now  and  "Long  may  it  wave  over  the  land  of 
the  free  and  home  of  the  brave,"  were  his  finishing  words. 

So  we  old  boys  are  putting  our  little  experiences  down  on  paper  for  the 
eye  and  study  of  our  children  and  children's  children,  so  they  may  learn  what 
it  cost  to  save  our  country  and  the  part  their  fathers  and  grandfathers  took  in 
it,  for  that  is  the  only  object  for  which  this  is  written.  Monuments  in  memory 
of  the  men  who  defended  the  cause  of  the  South  are  going  up  all  the  time 
and  this  is  as  it  should  be  and  whenever  any  of  the  Union  boys  come  down  to 
unveil  a  monument  to  their  dead,  they  make  ready  to  give  them  a  hearty  wel 
come  and  pledge  that  if  it  takes  all  of  the  force  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  such 
tokens  of  respect  for  the  dead  Union  soldiers  shall  be  preserved  for  all  time. 

The  action  taken  lately  by  the  North  toward  the  dead  Confederates,  who 
died  and  are  buried  on  Johnson  Island,  is  spoken  of  here  in  a  Christian  spirit 
just  as  it  ought  to  be  for  there  was  bitterness  and  hatred  enough  between  the 
North  and  South.  It  is  good  reading  for  us  to  see  in  the  "New  York  Tribune," 
the  following : 

"As  memories  of  the  sufferings  of  the  war  and  of  the  passions  which  they 
engendered  recede,  the  North  and  the  South  can  do  more  justice  to  each  other's 
sincerity  and  heroic  endurance.  Each  section  can  welcome  the  placing  on  its 
soil  of  memorials  to  those  who  fought  in  a  rival  cause.  They  do  credit  to  a 
common  sense  of  devotion  and  commemorate  incidents  and  events  which  be 
long  to  our  common  history." 

In  reply  to  this  the  "Times  Dispatch,"  a  daily  of  this  city  says  in  part: 
"To  all  this  we  say  'amen.'  There  was  sorrow  enough  and  suffering 
enough  and  passion  enough  during  the  war  without  reviving  any  of  it  in  this 
day  and  time.  We  can  believe  as  firmly  as  we  ever  believed  in  the  justice  of 
our  cause  and  can  still  regard  without  bitterness  the  men  who  fought  against 
us.  We  can  sherish  our  own  altars  and  worship  at  our  own  shrine  and  can 
remember  that  the  other  side  has  its  heroes  which  it  loves  and  reveres.  The 
South  has  in  recent  years  gladly  welcomed  Northern  visitors  who  came  on 
pilgrimages  of  love  to  unveil  monuments  to  their  dead  comrades,  to  erect  me 
morials  to  brave  men  who  fell  on  Southern  fields  and  to  revisit  the  scenes  of 
their  own  heroism.  There  are  Northern  monuments  on  practically  every 
Southern  field  and  the  Southern  people  who  gaze  at  them  know  that  they  are 
worthy  monuments  to  honorable  foes." 

It  is  a  satisfaction  to  us  old  fellows,  who  stood  the  brunt  of  battles  and 
the  hardships  of  the  camp  and  march,  that  we  have  lived  to  see  all  the  bit 
terness  forgotten  and  that  we  can  grasp  the  hand  of  our  old  foes  in  brotherly 
love  on  the  very  same  fields  that  we  fought  on  during  the  Civil  War. 

Now  if  our  children  or  the  children  of  those  men  who  made  the  Forty- 
fifth  the  marching  and  fighting  regiment  it  was,  should  read  this  and  feel  glad 
that  the  part  they  took  in  that  was  brought  before  them  by  that  little  history 
of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  written  by  themselves,  the  writer  of 
the  above  will  be  more  than  proud  that  he  was  one  of  that  number. 


First  Lieut.  J.  J.  Rogers 
Company  G 


John  /.  Rogers  385 


JOHN  J.  ROGERS 

John  J.  Rogers  was  born  in  Llanon  Carmarthanshire,  South  Wales,  April 
18th,  1835.  Emigrated  to  America,  December,  1859,  and  located  at  Cherry 
Flats,  Tioga  County,  Pa.  When  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  broke  out  he  en 
listed  September  18th,  1861,  in  Company  G,  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  Pennsylvania 
Volunteer  Infantry,  as  a  private  and  later  was  promoted  to  corporal,  sergeant, 
orderly  sergeant  and  lieutenant.  In  July,  1863,  during  the  Mississippi  cam 
paign  at  the  siege  of  Jackson  he  was  prostrated  by  sunstroke  for  which  he  was 
treated  in  quarters,  and  while  in  Kentucky  in  the  month  of  August  he  was 
taken  sick  with  typhoid  fever  and  sent  to  the  hospitals  at  Nicholasville  and 
Crab  Orchard.  December  30th,  1863,  he  rejoined  his  regiment  at  Blaines  Cross 
Roads,  Tenn.,  where  he  was  discharged  by  reason  of  reenlistment,  as  veteran 
volunteer  in  his  old  company.  A  furlough  of. 30  days  was  granted  him  at  the 
expiration  of  which  he  rejoined  his  regiment  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  where  the  Ninth 
Army  Corps,  rendezvoused  for  reorganization  in  March,  1864. 

At  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3d,  1864,  he  was  severely  wounded,  supposed 
mortally,  and  was  set  aside  by  the  field  surgeon  for  burial,  and  his  grave  dug, 
the  impression  being  that  he  could  not  survive.  He  received  a  gunshot  wound 
through  the  abdomen,  the  ball  entering  near  the  center  of  the  body,  just  above 
the  waist  line,  coming  out  close  to  the  spine,  where  it  comes  in  conjunction 
with  the  hip  bone.  While  lying  upon  the  ground,  four  men  came  up  to  him 
with  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  him  to  his  grave,  but  to  their  surprise, 
they  found  him  alive.  They  asked  him  if  he  would  like  to  go  to  the  hospital, 
and  he  replied,  "Yes."  They  sent  for  an  ambulance  into  which  he  was  placed 
and  taken  to  White  House  Landing,  arriving  there  the  next  afternoon  at  4 
o'clock.  There  he  was  carried  to  the  upper  deck  of  a  ship  and  laid  upon  the 
floor.  On  the  way  down  the  Chesapeake  Bay  a  storm  came  up,  which  caused 
the  captain  of  the  boat  to  put  to  shelter  and  anchor  for  the  night.  While  wait 
ing  for  the  storm  to  cease,  Lieutenant  Rogers  became  very  much  annoyed  by 
something  crawling  up  his  back.  After  struggling  for  some  time  to  get  his 
hand  near  the  wound,  he  finally  succeeded,  and  bringing  his  hand  back  before 
his  vision,  found  that  he  had  a  handful  of  maggots.  While  in  this  position,  a 
lady  came  on  deck  and  asked,  "Where  are  the  doctors  and  nurses?"  Without 
any  answer  she  turned  around  and  went  down  to  the  deck  below.  Soon  the  doc 
tors  and  nurses  came  rushing  on'  deck,  and  one  of  them  removed  his  pants, 
shoes  and  stockings  and  threw  them  overboard.  He  was  left  there,  cov 
ered  with  a  gum  blanket.  The  ship  arrived  at  Washington  the  next  evening,  the 
sixth  of  June.  He  arrived  at  the  hospital  at  10  P.  M.  The  next  morning  the 
doctor  came  and  ordered  him  to  be  removed  from  the  tent  hospital  to  Ward  No. 
18  Harewood  hospital,  where  he  had  his  wound  dressed  for  the  first  time  since 
he  was  wounded.  The  doctor  ordered  for  him  a  teacupful  of  beef  tea  once  a  day, 
and  his  wound  to  be  dressed  twice  a  day,  leaving  nature  to  take  its  course.  He 
was  for  several  weeks  under  treatment  in  Harewood  hospital,  while  all  the  ex 
crement  of  the  body  passed  through  the  lower  orifice  of  his  wound.  Was  under 
treatment  in  hospital  in  Washington  and  Philadelphia  about  six  months.  While 


^86     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

in  Philadelphia  hospital,  the  doctor  wanted  him  to  take  his  discharge,  but  he 
declined  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  able  to  earn  a  livelihood,  and  not  hav 
ing  any  relations  or  friends  in  this  country,  he  thought  he  would  give  them  an 
other  chance  to  finish  him.  He  asked  the  doctor  to  send  him  to  his  regiment. 
He  rejoined  his  command  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  December,  1864.  The  following 
day  General  John  I.  Curtin  tendered  him  a  commission  as  first  lieutenant,  to 
rank  as  such  from  October  19th,  1864,  which  was  a  pleasant  surprise  to  him. 
As  the  captain  was  in  prison,  Lieutenant  Rogers  served  in  command  of  his 
company  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  present  and  fought  with  the  com 
pany  in  the  following  engagements :  James  Island,  South  Mountain,  Antietam, 
Fredericksburg,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  siege  of  Jackson,  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania, 
North  Ann  River,  Cold  Harbor,  siege  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  assault  on  works  and 
capture  of  Petersburg,  and  at  Appomattox.  Was  mustered  out  of  service  with 
his  company  at  camp  near  Alexandria,  Va.,  July  17th,  1865.  He  returned  to 
Charleston,  Tioga  County,  Pa.,  and  after  two  years  was  able  to  resume  his 
occupation  as  mason  and  stone-cutter.  He  now  resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 


MY  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  OUR  FIRST  ENCOUNTER 
WITH  JOHNNY  REBS 

BY  WILLIAM  H.  WATROUS,  COMPANY  I. 

We  were  ordered  to  Port  Royal  in  December  of  1861,  did  picket  duty  on 
Hilton  Head  and  Otter  Islands  during  the  winter  and  early  spring  of  1862,  when 
we  were  ordered  to  James  Island.  After  a  hard  march  of  about  five  days  we 
arrived  on  James  Island  about  midnight,  tired  and  sleepy.  As  I  recollect  it  60 
of  Company  I  and  40  of  Company  H  were  immediately  ordered  out  on  picket. 
We  marched  out  about  one  mile  to  the  edge  of  timber  bordered  by  a  thicket  of 
bushes  and  second  growth  young  timbers.  One  or  two  others  and  myself  were 
advanced  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther,  one  in  a  place,  as  videttes.  Every 
thing  remained  quiet  during  the  night  and  till  well  along  in  the  forenoon  next 
day.  Captain  Hills  came  out  where  I  w7as  and  talked  a  w<hile  with  me  and  had 
gone  back  some  distance  when  I  discovered  a  Rebel  regiment  coming  forward 
rapidly.  I  immediately  commenced  firing  and  falling  back  slowly.  The  cap 
tain  called  to  me  to  fall  back  faster  or  I  would  be  taken  prisoner.  I  continued 
to  load  and  fire  as  fast  as  I  could  till  I  reached  the  main  picket  line.  Almost 
the  same  time  the  Rebs  showed  themselves  out  in  the  field  on  our  left,  where 
another  body  of  pickets  of  about  100  had  been  stationed,  but  they  \vere  then 
running  back  toward  camp  without  firing  a  gun,  excepting  that  one  of  them 
looked  around  and  having  his  gun  over  his  shoulder  fired  right  toward  us.  By 
this  time  the  Rebs  discovered  us  and  ran  back  to  the  edge  of  the  thicket  and 
some  of  them  fired  lengthwise  of  our  line.  Then  we  began  firing  so  rapidly  that 
they  afterward  reported  the  whole  Yankee  army  was  in  front  of  them.  The 
firing  continued  about  a  half  hour,  when  the  Rebs  fell  back  to  their  main  line 
of  support  and  \\c  had  a  short  rest  to  wash  out  and  cool  our  guns  which  had 
by  this  time  become  too  hot  to  handle.  In  about  20  minutes  a  full  brigade  came 


Personal  Reminiscences  387 

on  to  attack  us  again.  We  received  them  with  a  very  rapid  fire  which  lasted 
about  another  half  hour,  when  they  were  so  badly  cut  up  that  they  left  their 
dead  and  wounded  on  the  field  and  hurried  back  to  Charleston,  leaving  us  in 
undisputed  possession  of  the  field  with  many  killed  and  wounded  on  our  hands. 
A  few  days  later  \ve  received  a  copy  of  a  Rebel  paper,  called  the  Charleston 
"Mercury,"  saying  their  loss  was  84  killed  and  wounded. 

I  must  also  state  in  reference  to  the  fight  that  a  Pennsylvania  regiment 
came  up  to  the  picket  line  and  did  excellent  service  on  our  right  flank.  This 
might  have  been  the  cause  of  the  sudden  Rebel  retreat.  I  think  the  regiment 
that  came  to  our  assistance  was  the  Seventy-sixth. 

The  killed  and  wounded  were  all  in  front  of  our  little  baud  of  100  men. 
We  fired  one  volley  standing  and  dropped  close  to  the  ground,  where  we  re 
mained  all  through  both  engagements.  This  was  the  cause  of  our  wonderful 
escape  from  total  destruction.  I  think  we  had  only  one  man  killed  in  Com 
pany  H. 

After  the  battle  we  were  relieved  and  marched  back  to  the  camp  only  to 
be  feted  to  the  best  the  camp  afforded.  After  a  bountiful  dinner  I  took  up  my 
gun  to  clean  it  when  the  old  colonel  came  along  and  told  me  to  let  my  gun  be 
for  someone  else  to  clean.  He  wanted  us  to  go  where  we  pleased  and  enjoy 
ourselves.  Our  colonel  was  so  pleased  he  could  not  keep  still  but  went  to 
everyone  who  took  part  in  the  battle  to  hear  what  each  one  had  to  say. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES 

By  J.  H.  STRICKLER. 

Joined  Company  K,  September  IGth,  1861,  at  Camp  Curtin,  Pa.,  enlisting 
as  "high  private"  (original  canteen  number  being  No.  39  from  the  right.)  Hav 
ing  served  in  the  company  and  regiment  until  our  return  to  starting  point  my 
service  history  would  be  Company  K's. 

My  first  experience  under  fire  was  at  North  Edisto,  S.  C.,  which  was  over 
so  quickly  none  of  us  seemed  to  have  time  to  get  scared  or  excited,  although 
in  the  short  time  \ve  had  Captain  Rambo  and  Corporal  Richards  killed,  Pri 
vates  Wagner  and  W.  H.  Richards  mortally  wounded,  and  Privates  Vache  and 
Smith  wounded,  but  not  seriously.  If  my  recollection  serves  me  rightly  in  all 
it  cost  us  nine  in  killed  and  wounded,  but  it  had  a  tendency  to  make  us  "kids" 
stand  up  and  take  notice.  In  other  words  it  taught  us  what  we  could  expect  in 
the  future  and  we  got  it  in  our  next  experience,  James  Island,  S.  C. 

All  the  old  boys  left  will  remember  our  march  across  St.  Johns  Island  in 
the  heavy  sand,  heat  and  storm  to  Stono  Inlet  and  our  transfer  by  boats  to 
James  Island ;  our  nights  in  the  pits  while  the  double-ender  "Powhattan"  lying 
in  the  inlet,  to  our  rear  would,  from  her  Columbiad  amidship,  at  intervals  of 
about  ten  minutes,  send  her  regards  toward  Charleston  in  the  shape  of  an  11- 
inch  shell.  But  being  young  and  inexperienced  we  rather  enjoyed  the  fire-works. 

Our  next  skip  was  to  Newport  News,  Va.,  arriving  there  a  few  days  after 
the  Merrimac-Monitor  fight,  thence  to  Washington  and  our  march  to  the 


388     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

South  Mountain  and  Antietam  troubles.  After  resting  in  Pleasant  Valley  a 
short  time  \ve  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Berlin,  taking  up  our  trip  to  Fredericks- 
burg.  Remember  that  our  trains  did  not  keep  up  and  being  out  of  rations,  we 
were  compelled  to  take  an  extra  hole  or  two  in  our  waist  belt,  but  then  we  got 
used  to  that  in  time.  Our  experience  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  will  no 
doubt  be  told  in  the  history  of  the  trip,  although,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  we  were 
very  quiet  on  our  return  about  midnight.  No  clanking  of  bayonets  against  tin 
cups,  for,  as  our  drummer  boy  said,  "It  would  not  be  healthy.''  But  we  were 
not  molested. 

From  Fredericksburg  we  were  sent  on  a  special  train  of  iron  Pullmans 
to  Parkersburg,  W.  Va.,  down  the  river  to  Covington,  Ky.,  and  out  to  Nich- 
olasville.  From  Kentucky  two  divisions  of  our  corps  under*  General  Parks  were 
sent  to  reinforce  Grant  at  Vicksburg,  we  going  up  the  Yazoo  to  Milldale  Land 
ing  to  watch  "Mr.  Johnston"  of  the  Confederates,  who  was  endeavoring  to 
raise  the  siege. 

On  July  4th  commenced  our  march  to  Jackson,  Miss.,  at  which  place  we 
had  quite  a  scrap,  after  which  we  were  again  sent  back  to  Kentucky  and  shortly 
after  started  on  our  march  to  East  Tennessee,  via  Cumberland  Gap.  Our  first 
introduction  was  the  Blue  Spring  affair,  and  if  you  remember  the  cavalry 
skirmished  with  the  enemy  until  the  afternoon,  when  the  infantry  advanced. 
You  no  doubt  recollect  the  difference  in  the  sound,  their  carbines  sounding  like 
Chinese  fire-crackers,  the  Harper  Ferry  muskets  like  artillery.  We  lost  some 
good  men  but  we  started  the  Rebs  for  Greenville,  to  which  place  we  followed. 
Campbell  Station  came  next,  then  the  siege  of  Knoxville,  which  lasted  some 
11  or  12  days.  Our  regiment  held  the  line  from  the  left  of  Fort  Sanders  down 
to  the  Holston  River.  I,  with  Comrade  Hostetter,  was  in  the  same  "Gopher 
hole"  on  vidette  picket  in  front  of  the  fort  for  48  hours,  in  a  continual  down 
pour  of  rain,  and  it  being  the  month  of  November  it  was  not  pleasant,  especially 
so  as  our  cooks  were  delayed  in  bringing  our  meals,  on  account  of  our  friends  on 
the  other  side  having  an  unpleasant  way  of  firing  at  anything  in  sight.  Being 
surrounded  our  cracker  line  was  broken.  I  remember  going  on  picket  with 
four  corn  cakes,  the  size  of  a  pension  silver  dollar,  but  twice  the  thickness, 
which  we  apportioned,  one  for  breakfast,  dinner,  supper  and  the  other  for 
lunch  at  12;  but  then  we  had  plenty  of  water. 

After  the  siege  we  went  to  Blaines  Cross  Roads,  where  we  reenlisted. 
Comrade  Lieutenant  Myers,  my  shelter  tentmate,  can  tell  you  of  the  cornbread, 
or  pone,  as  he  called  it,  which  we  made  and  cooked  in  a  Dutch  oven.  As' for 
the  recipe,  all  that  I  can  think  of  was  that  we  used  lye  made  from  hickory 
ashes  to  raise  and  a  little  salt  to  season,  but  it  was  grand  chow.  After  our  30 
days'  furlough  we  rendezvoused  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  and  from  there  we  marched 
across,  joining  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the  Wilderness.  As  it  was  too 
much  of  a  fight  others  with  more  literary  ability  will  describe  our  share  of  it. 
In  the  last  charge  of  the  day  Comrade  Brady  was  killed  by  my  side.  From 
there  on  until  we  reached  Petersburg  it  was  continual  marching  and  fighting. 
Then  it  was  fighting  till  the  wind-up,  April  2d,  1865. 

In  our  charge  on  Fort  Hill,  April  2d,  the  writer  was  unfortunate  enough 
to  get  in  the  way  of  a  bullet  that  struck  him  on  the  left  side  of  the  head  and 


The  Virginia  Campaign  389 

which  placed  him  off  duty  for  five  or  six  weeks  in  the  hospital  at  City  Point. 
President  Lincoln  a  few  days  after  the  surrender  visited  the  hospital  and  shook 
hands  with  all  the  wounded,  so  that  in  part  I  was  recompensed  for  the  wound. 

Of  all  the  long  nights,  the  most  disagreeable  one  spent  in  the  service  was 
the  night  we  first  established  our  line  at  North  Anna.  There  was  a  break  in 
the  line  to  our  left  and  Captain  Fessler  detailed  a  sergeant  to  advance  to  the 
front  and  left  100  yards,  but  the  detail  being  sick,  it  fell  to  my  lot.  The  down 
pour  was  steady  all  night  and  from  the  rear  we  could  hear  the  wagons  bring 
ing  the  wounded  from  our  left.  Of  all  the  groans  and  yells  I  ever  heard  it  was 
that  night.  At  the  first  break  of  day  yours  truly  was  only  too  glad  to  get  back 
to  the  line. 

Comrades,  with  all  the  hardships,  we  had  a  goodly  sprinkling  of  fun.  On 
a  hard  march  again  would  you  laugh  to  have  one  of  the  boys  sing  out,  "This 
is  damn  rough  on  us  farmers'  sons." 

This  is  written  hap-hazard  from  memory  and  may  in  part  not  adapt  itself 
as  you  saw  it,  but  then  remember  that  it  happened  over  45  years  ago.  Still  I 
love  the  "Old  Boys"  of  the  Forty-fifth  and  why  should  I  not,  as  they  are  my 
ideal  men. 


THE  VIRGINIA  CAMPAIGN 

BY  W.  A.  ROBERTS,  COMPANY  K. 

Extracts   from   a   letter   dated : 

WATERFORD,  LOUDEN  COUNTY,  VA., 

Friday,    November  7th,   1862. 
DEAR  PARENTS  : 

My  last  letter  was  dated  from  Camp  Israel,  in  which  I  stated  that  the  army 
was  under  orders  to  cross  the  Potomac  River  into  Virginia.  The  next  day, 
October  26th,  we  crossed  at  Berlin,  Md.,  on  pontoon  bridges,  and  had  a  very 
disagreeable  march  all  day,  in  a  cold,  drenching  rain,  lying  down  at  night  on 
the  wet  ground,  our  clothing  thoroughly  saturated.  The  boys  made  a  raid  on 
some  strawstacks,  pitched  their  "dog"  tents,  and  tried  to  make  themselves  as 
comfortable  as  possible.  During  the  night  the  storm  raged  with  such  violence 
that  the  stakes  pulled  out  and  the  tents  came  down,  giving  us  an  extra  bath, 
with  little  or  no  rest.  Next  day  the  weather  cleared  up.  We  remained  in  camp 
a  day  and  then  proceeded  to  Waterford,  Louden  County,  where  we  remained  a 
few  days.  Company  K  was  detailed  to  do  provost  duty  in  the  town  until  orders 
came  to  move.  We  were  quartered  in  an  old  building,  in  the  rear  of  which  was 
a  long  flight  of  steps,  the  last  one  being  broken.  In  descending,  this  step  gave 
way,  causing  me  to  fall  and  sprain  my  right  ankle  so  badly  that  in  less  than  an 
hour  I  was  unable  to  stand  upon  it.  Two  comrades  assisted  me  to  a  hotel  across 
the  street.  The  kind  lady  of  the  house  made  a  bed  upon  the  floor.  By  this 
time  my  foot  was  so  swollen  that  my  shoe  had  to  be  cut  off,  after  which  she 
made  a  hot  poultice  of  clay  and  vinegar  and  applied  it.  This  soon  relieved  the 


3QO     Fort\-Fifth  Pennsylvania   J'etcran   Volunteer  Infantry 

pain  and  reduced  the  swelling;  but  I  was  unable  to  walk,  except  with  the  aid 
of  a  crutch,  for  several  weeks. 

Next  day  the  regiment  received  marching  orders,  and  a  number  of  the 
boys  who  were  taken  sick  from  the  exposure  and  hard  marching  of  the  few 
days  previous  received  certificates  from  the  doctor  to  remain  in  Waterford  until 
able  to  rejoin  the  regiment.  Temporary  hospitals  were  established  in  two  of 
the  churches,  but  the  boys  preferred  to  remain  in  private  families,  where  they 
received  home-like  treatment.  Just  think  of  us  "Yankees'5  being  treated  so 
kindly  in  an  enemy's  country.  We  expected  to  find  everybody  armed  with  a 
gun,  waiting  to  give  us  '"cold  lead."  A  strong  Union  sentiment  prevails  in 
Waterford.  There  are  a  great  many  Quakers  residing  here,  and  their  religious 
tenets  forbid  them  engaging  in  warfare.  However,  two  companies  of  cavalry 
were  organized  in  Waterford  and  surrounding  towns — one  Union  and  one  Con 
federate.  These  two  companies  met  in  battle  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  after  severe 
fighting,  in  which  several  were  killed  and  wounded  on  both  sides,  the  Union 
men  were  compelled  to  surrender.  The  Union  forces  only  numbered  about  16, 
who  wrere  intrenched  in  the  Baptist  church,  while  the  Confederates  numbered 
between  60  and  70.  The  church  is  full  of  bullet  marks.  There  are  three  churches 
in  Waterford — a  Quaker,  Baptist  and  Methodist,  the  two  latter  being  used  as 
hospitals.  The  Union  men  have  all  been  exchanged  and  are  at  home.  The 
Confederate  troops  keep  themselves  scarce  while  our  troops  are  passing  through. 
In  the  fight  just  mentioned  brother  was  arrayed  against  brother,  neighbor 
against  neighbor,  and  churchman  against  churchman. 

My  kind  host  and  hostess,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  H.  Wine,  are  staunch 
Union  people.  Mr.  Wine  belongs  to  Captain  Means'  Louden  Rangers.  They 
act  as  a  home  guard  and  also  as  a  guide  to  our  army  while  passing  through  this 
section.  *  *  * 

Brother  Albert  met  with  a  serious  accident  while  we  lay  in  camp  at  Pleas 
ant  Valley,  and  came  near  losing  his  eyesight.  He  gathered  a  lot  of  cartridges 
and  poured  the  powder  into  an  empty  sardine  box.  He  then  got  a  coal  of  fire 
and  carried  it  between  two  sticks,  when  it  fell  into  the  powder  before  he  was 
ready  and  while  his  face  was  directly  over  the  box,  with  the  result  that  his 
hair  and  eyelashes  were  singed  off  and  his  eyes  filled  with  the  burnt  powder.  He 
was  in  the  hospital  several  weeks  and  it  was  thought  that  he  would  lose  his 
sight,  but  he  came  out  all  right.  No  doubt  he  is  with  the  regiment.  *  *  * 

Orders  have  been  received  to  send  all  convalescents  who  are  able  for  duty 
to  their  respective  regiments,  and  those  unfit  for  duty  to  be  sent  to  Con 
valescent  Camp  at  Alexandria,  Va.  I  am  still  unable  to  walk  any  distance  on 
my  injured  ankle,  so  am  classed  among  the  latter.  *  *  *  After  fully  recover 
ing  I  was  sent  to  the  regiment,  then  stationed  on  the  Falmouth  side  of  the  Rap- 
pahannock  river.  Soon  after  rejoining  an  order  was  read  to  the  different 
regiments  on  dress  parade,  as  follows :  "We  will  move  on  the  enemy's  works 
on  the  morrow  and  every  man  will  be  expected  to  be  at  his  post  and  do  his 
duty,"  etc.  During  the  night  a  terrific  \vind  and  rain  storm  came  up  and  the 
order  was  countermanded;  so  it  remained  "all  quiet  on  the  Rappahannock"  a 
while  longer.  The  pickets  of  both  armies  were  on  speaking  terms,  and  while 
walking  their  respective  beats,  on  opposite  sides  of  the  river,  entered  into  con 
versation  with  each  other,  something  like  this: 


The  Virginia  Campaign  391 

Johnny :  "Say,  Yanks,  when  are  you  coming  over  again  to  try  to  take 
Fredericksburg?" 

Yank :     "Oh,  we'll  be  over  there  one  of  these  days.'' 

Johnny:  "Well,  we'll  give  you  a  warm  reception.  Say,  Yank,  have  you 
any  coffee  to  trade  for  tobacco?" 

Yank :      "Yes,    I    guess    so." 

Johnny :     "Now,  Yank,  be  honest." 

Yank:     "Say,  Johnny,  have  you  any  butter?" 

Johnny :     "Yes,  lots  of  it." 

Yank :     "Then  grease  yourself  and  slide  into  the  Union." 

An  old  boat  would  put  out  from  each  shore,  meet  in  midstream,  and  a  sat 
isfactory  trade  made.  "Mum"  was  the  \vord  as  to  the  movements  or  strength 
of  either  army.  The  penalty  of  giving  any  information  was  death.  We  also 
exchanged  newspapers— the  Richmond  "Despatch"  for  the  Philadelphia  "Inquirer,'' 
and  other  Southern  and  Northern  papers.  None  of  them  contained  anything 
but  advertisements,  all  the  news,  especially  relating  to  army  movements,  having 
been  carefully  cut  out.  An  advertisement  that  appeared  in  the  Mobile  (Ala.) 
"Advertiser"  of  April  16th,  1861,  when  President  Lincoln  issued  his  call  for 
75,000  troops,  read  as  follows: 

"75,000  BLACK  COFFINS  WANTED— Proposals  will  be  received  to  sup 
ply  the  Southern  Confederacy  with  75,000  black  coffins.  No  proposals  will  be 
entertained  coming  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon  line. 

"Direct  to  JEFF  DAVIS,   Montgomery,   Alabama." 

This  ghastly  joke  showed  the  temper  of  the  Southern  political  leaders  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  but  they  changed  their  opinion  before  the  close 
of  the  war.  It  would  have  been  an  utter  impossibility  to  supply  enough  coffins  to 
give  decent  burial  to  the  poor  fellows  who  lost  their  lives  during  the  terrible 
conflict.  Thousands  upon  thousands  received  no  burial  at  all,  but  were  left  as 
they  fell,  their  bleached  bones  being  gathered  up  from  many  battlefields  long 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  and  buried  in  graves  marked  "UNKNOWN." 


CAMP  OPPOSITE  FREDERICKSBURG, 

Sunday,  February  8,  1863. 

*  *  * 

Just  got  back  to  quarters,  having  been  on  picket  duty.  It  rained  and  sleeted 
and  was  one  of  the  most  disagreeable  nights  we  pickets  ever  experienced.  We 
have  been  out  four  nights  recently.  Two  were  pleasant,  but  two  were  unfit  for 
a  dog  to  be  out. 

The  Ninth  Corps  is  under  marching  orders,  and  judging  from  rumors  is 
about  to  leave  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  *  *  * 

Just  received  orders  to  break  camp  and  expect  to  go  into  winter  quarters  at 
Newport  News.  Will  write  you  from  there. 


392     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

NEWPORT,  NEWS,  VA., 

Wednesday,   February   llth,    1863. 
*  *  * 

We  are  now  encamped  at  Newport  News,  on  the  banks  of  the  James  River, 
in  comfortable  quarters.  As  soon  as  the  camp  was  put  in  order  we  went  to  drill 
ing.  We  had  squad  drill,  company  drill,  regimental  drill,  battalion  drill,  roll- 
call  and  guardmount  in  the  morning,  and  dress  parade  in  the  evening,  so  were 
kept  on  the  move  from  the  time  reveille  was  sounded,  about  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  until  tattoo,  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  all  lights  were  extin 
guished  and  every  soldier  in  his  tent,  except  those  on  guard. 

Colonel  Welsh  gave  strict  orders  against  card  playing.  One  evening  while 
passing  through  one  of  the  streets  he  overheard  one  of  the  boys  say,  "What's 
trump?"  The  answer  was  "Clubs."  He  quietly  pulled  the  tent  flies  open  and 
peeked  in,  remarking,  "Well,  boys,  are  you  amusing  yourselves?"  He  sent  a 
corporal's  guard  shortly  afterward  and  had  them  all  put  to  digging  trenches 
with  spades  and  picks,  as  punishment.  Then  he  strolled  around  to  where  they 
were  at  work  and  said :  "Well,  boys,  how  do  you  like  your  little  game  ?"  Clubs 
were  trump  a  little  while  ago  but  now  spades  are  trump."  The  boys  thought 
this  a  good  joke  but  they  never  allowed  themselves  to  be  caught  again. 

The  "fall-in"  call  is  being  sounded;  must  get  ready  for  drill,  so  will  close 
for  this  time. 


THE  KENTUCKY  CAMPAIGN 

CAMP  NEAR  PARIS,   KY., 

April  1st,  1863. 
*  *  * 

Since  my  last  letter  to  you  we  have  traveled  over  1,000  miles  and  are  now 
in  the  central  part  of  Kentucky. 

On  Sunday,  March  22d,  we  left  Newport  News  and  embarked  on  board 
steamboat  for  Baltimore,  where  we  arrived  Monday  night,  the  23d.  The  fol 
lowing  morning  we  took  cars  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad.  After  trav 
eling  about  400  miles  by  rail  in  box  cars  with  improvised  seats  we  reached 
Parkersburg,  W.  Va.,  on  the  Ohio  River.  Here  the  regiment  embarked  on 
steamboat  for  Cincinnati,  a  distance  of  over  300  miles,  where  we  arrived  after 
a  24  hours'  ride.  It  was  dark  when  we  reached  Cincinnati,  so  we  remained  on 
the  boat  all  night.  *  *  *  The  following  morning  we  were  landed  in  Covington, 
on  the  Kentucky  side  of  the  river,  and  after  partaking  of  our  usual  rations  of 
hardtack  and  coffee,  were  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle  and  ordered  to  load  our 
muskets.  It  was  rumored  that  Morgan's  guerrillas  were  threatening  this  sec 
tion  of  Kentucky,  and  that  the  rebel  citizens  of  Covington  intended  to  raise  the 
stars  and  bars.  The  flag  didn't  appear,  however,  and  everything  passed  off 
quietly.  At  Covington  we  took  cars  on  the  Kentucky  Central  Railroad,  and 
after  a  pleasant  ride  of  80  miles  arrived  at  Nicholasville,  the  terminus  of  the 


The  Mississippi  Campaign  393 

road,  and  from  that  point  marched  to  our  present  camp  in  the  fair  grounds 
near  Paris,  the  county  seat  of  Bourbon  County.  Although  situated  in  the 
central  part  of  the  State,  there  is  a  strong  Union  sentiment,  and  our  troops 
are  very  hospitably  treated  by  the  citizens.  Every  evening  large  audiences  from 
Paris  come  to  witness  the  regiment  on  dress  parade.  We  go  through  the  manual 
of  arms  by  the  tap  of  the  drum — 106  motions  in  all.  All  credit  is  due  to  our 
brave  and  noble  Colonel  Welsh  for  the  high  proficiency  the  regiment  attained 
in  the  manual  of  arms  and  maneuvers,  as  well  as  discipline.  *  *  * 

CAMP  DICK  ROBINSON,  KY., 

April  16th,  1863. 
DEAR  PARENTS : 

Since  my  last  letter  home  our  regiment  has  left  Paris  and  is  now  at  Camp 
Dick  Robinson.  This  is  a  very  pretty  camping  ground  and  has  been  used  for 
that  purpose  ever  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Just  now  we  were  interrupte4 
by  the  glad  call  of  "Here's  a  mail!"  In  it  was  a  letter  dated  April  8th,  and 
it  gave  us  great  pleasure  to  hear  from  the  dear  ones  at  home.  Nothing  affords 
us  soldier  boys  more  pleasure  than  getting  letters  from  home  containing  good 
news.  The  poor  fellows  who  fail  to  get  a  letter  are  terribly  disappointed,  for 
it  is  hard  to  say  when  the  next  mail  will  arrive,  as  we  are  constantly  on  the 
move. 

General  Welsh  arrived  here  last  Sunday  with  the  star  on  his  shoulder,  hav 
ing  been  promoted  from  colonel  to  brigadier  general.  He  is  well  and  looks  the 
true  soldier.  The  boys  gave  him  three  cheers  of  welcome  and  congratulated  him 
on  his  promotion.  He  says  he  is  "bound  to  stick  to  his  regiment — the  boys 
who  helped  win  him  his  laurels  by  their  bravery  and  good  conduct,  and  that  he 
will  go  home  with  them  when  the  war  is  over."  Adjutant  Budding  also  came 
with  him,  looking  well. 

Some  prisoners  were  brought  in  to-day,  among  them  a  New  Yorker  who 
happened  to  be  in  the  South  when  the  war  broke  out.  He  is  a  very  bitter  rebel 
and  says  that  just  as  soon  as  he  is  exchanged  he  is  "going  back  to  fight  us  d — d 
Yankees  until  we  are  licked."  All  the  same  he  was  glad  to  accept  a  portion  of 
our  rations,  as  were  also  the  rest  of  his  poor,  half-starved  comrades. 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  CAMPAIGN 

SNYDERS  BLUFF,  NEAR  VICKSBURG,  Miss., 

Thursday,  June  25th,   1863. 

The  whole  Ninth  Corps  is  now  in  Mississippi,  encamped  about  ten  miles 
from  Vicksburg.  We  arrived  here  a  week  ago  after  a  journey  of  two  weeks, 
mostly  by  steamboat  via  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers.  The  distance  trav 
eled  was  about  1,800  miles.  We  were  eight  days  on  board  the  steamboat  and 
about  six  days  on  the  march  and  by  rail.  The  Ninth  Corps  was  sent  here  to 
prevent  General  Joe  Johnston's  army  from  coming  to  reinforce  General  Pem- 
berton's  army  in  Vicksburg.  The  place  is  being  bombarded  night  and  day, 


394     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

with  but  little  intermission,  and  while  I  am  writing  the  terrible  booming  of 
large  siege  guns  and  mortars  intermingled  with  the  smaller  guns,  is  heard.  We 
have  this  place  well  fortified,  and  should  Johnston  attempt  to  attack  us  he  will 
meet  with  a  warm  reception,  as  there  are  about  50,000  men  here,  besides  Gen 
eral  Grant's  army  at  Vicksbtirg.  *  *  >; 

Before  leaving  Kentucky  for  Mississippi  the  citizens  of  Hustonville  gave 
the  regiment  a  dinner.  It  was  gotten  up  in  true  Kentucky  style,  and  the  boys 
were  waited  upon  by  the  charming  Kentucky  belles  of  the  town,  wearing  red, 
white  and  blue  aprons,  and  all  were  made  welcome  and  to  feel  at  home.  This 
occasion  was  one  of  the  bright  spots  in  a  soldier's  life,  and  reminded  us  of 
the  good  old  picnics  we  enjoyed  at  home. 

The  next  day  we  received  marching  orders,  expecting  to  go  to  East  Ten 
nessee.  After  a  three  days'  march  through  the  heat  and  dust  we  arrived  near 
Columbia,  Ky.,  a  distance  of  45  miles  from  Hustonville.  Here  we  encamped 
for  a  \veek,  when  we  received  orders  to  go  to  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  and  we  ac 
cordingly  marched  to  Lebanon,  Ky.,  that  being  the  nearest  point  to  the  rail 
road.  After  a  hard  day's  march  we  arrived  at  Lebanon.  Here  we  received 
two  months'  pay  and  then  took  the  train  for  Louisville,  66  miles  distant.  Com 
pany  K  had  been  detailed  to  do  duty  at  headquarters  and  had  to  remain  in 
Lebanon  two  days  after  the  regiment  left.  Very  little  money  was  sent  home,  as 
a  long  steamboat  journey  was  anticipated,  and  we  all  remembered  how  we  had 
suffered  for  lack  of  something  to  eat  on  the  trip  from  Newport  News,  Va.,  to 
Paris,  Ky.,  under  the  same  circumstances.  We  remained  in  Louisville  one 
day  and  the  boys  had  a  good  time  generally.  At  this  writing  we  are  making 
up  for  it.  Money  is  of  no  account  here,  for  there  is  nothing  to  buy.  Such  is 
soldier  life  in  an  active  campaign — either  a  feast  or  a  famine. 

Now,  to  go  back  and  give  you  some  of  the  details  of  our  voyage  down  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers :  From  Louisville  we  went  to  Portland,  about 
three  miles  distant,  which  is  opposite  New  Albany,  Ind.,  crossing  the  Ohio 
River  to  the  latter  place.  Here  we  remained  a  day  and  embarked  for  Cairo, 
111.,  and  thence  down  the  Mississippi  River.  The  journey  from  Kentucky  to 
Mississippi  occupied  nearly  two  weeks,  eight  days  of  which  we  were  on  board 
boat,  arriving  here  a  week  ago.  The  voyage  was  not  unattended  with  danger. 
Several  of  the  boats  containing  our  troops  were  fired  upon  from  shore  by  rebel 
guerrillas,  who  infest  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  several  men  were  killed  and 
wounded.  The  boat  on  which  our  regiment  embarked  was  not  fired  upon.  We 
had  a  number  of  rebel  prisoners  on  board,  which  accounts  for  this.  Gun 
boats  accompanied  us  through  the  most  dangerous  portions  of  the  journey. 
Only  one  landing  was  made  during  the  whole  trip  from  Cairo  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Yazoo  River,  and  that  was  at  Memphis,  Tenn.  Before  leaving  the 
Mississippi  River  every  man  was  ordered  to  fill  his  canteen  with  water  from 
that  stream,  as  the  water  from  the  Yazoo  River  was  unfit  to  drink,  and  we 
were  going  into  a  country  where  good  water  was  scarce.  Never  in  all  our 
campaigns  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  other  States,  have  we  suffered 
for  water  as  we  have  in  Mississippi.  Holes  have  been  sunk  in  the  ground  at 
different  points  many  feet  deep  to  obtain  drinkable  water,  and  nothing  has  been 
found  but  poisonous  seepings.  We  have  actually  drunk  water  from  stagnant 
pools,  which  was  refused  by  the  horses  and  mules.  Many  of  our  men  have  died 


The  Mississippi  Campaign  395 

in  consequence;  in  fact  nearly  all  have  succumbed  to  disease  contracted  by  the 
foul  water.  I  always  took  the  precaution  to  have  a  bottle  of  good  hot  Jamaica 
ginger,  and  never  took  a  drink  without  putting  a  few  drops  into  the  water.  A 
large  hogshead  of  uncooked  sauerkraut  stands  in  the  camp,  to  which  all  the  boys 
have  access.  It  is  amusing  to  see  them  reach  in  with  their  dirty  black  hands, 
grab  a  handful  and  eat  it,  dirt  and  all.  They  enjoy  it  immensely. 

We  disembarked  at  Milldale  Landing,  a  point  on  the  Yazoo  River,  and  are 
encamped  on  Snyders  Bluff,  as  the  date  of  this  letter  shows.  This  locality 
abounds  in  reptiles  and  poisonous  insects  of  every  description,  especially  mos 
quitoes,  which  so  torment  us  at  night,  together  with  the  intense  heat,  that  we 
get  very  little  rest.  How  long  we  will  remain  in  this  unpleasant  situation  de 
pends  upon  the  fall  of  Vicksburg.  General  Welsh  said  yesterday  that  if  Vicks- 
burg  was  surrendered  by  next  week  the  Ninth  Corps  would  probably  be  ordered 
to  Pennsylvania  to  help  defeat  Lee's  Army,  as  we  see  by  the  papers  that  he 
(Lee)  is  threatening  that  State  again.  We  drove  him  out  of  Maryland  in  Sep 
tember,  1862,  when  he  attempted  to  defeat  our  army  and  invade  Pennsylvania, 
but  made  a  failure  of  it.  It  is  the  general  opinion  that  this  last  movement  will 
prove  a  worse  defeat  than  the  first.  *  *  *  Will  close  for  this  time,  and  hope 
to  be  able  to  say  in  my  next  letter  that  Vicksburg  has  been  captured. 

P.  S.  Since  I  last  wrote  you  our  regiment  has  been  changed  from  the  Third 
to  the  First  Brigade. 


HEADQUARTERS,  FIRST  DIVISION,  NINTH  ARMY  CORPS, 

Snyders  Bluff,  Miss.,  Friday,  July  24th,  1863. 

Since  my  last  we  have  experienced  some  severe  service  and  several  of  the 
boys  of  Company  K,  myself  included,  have  been  afflicted  with  chills  and  fever 
for  the  past  week.  There  have  been  a  great  many  deaths  in  the  different  regi 
ments.  George  Lehman,  John  Beaver,  Jacob  Myers,  and  other  Columbia  boys, 
have  been  sick,  but  are  now  on  a  fair  way  to  recovery,  as  we  are  getting  our 
daily  rations  of  quinine.  Brother  Albert  (Rollie)  met  with  an  accident  on  the 
3d  of  July.  He  was  swinging  on  a  grape  vine,  when  he  lost  his  hold  and  fell 
about  15  feet  into  a  ravine,  breaking  his  right  arm  near  the  wrist  joint,  and  oth 
erwise  injuring  himself.  Dr.  Horace  L.  Ludington,  the  brigade  surgeon,  dressed 
his  injuries,  and  he  has  been  in  the  hospital  ever  since.  I  understand  he  is  im 
proving  rapidly.  *  *  * 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  our  sufferings  since  my  last  letter  to  you.  Of 
course  you  have  heard  that  Vicksburg  fell  on  the  4th  of  July.  The  same  day  the 
Ninth  Corps  and  all  the  other  troops  in  this  vicinity  made  a  forced  march  after 
Joe  Johnston's  army.  It  was  one  of  the  hottest  days  we  experienced  during 
the  Mississippi  campaign,  and  in  a  short  while  it  was  hard  to  tell  whether  we 
wore  blue  or  gray,  so  thickly  had  the  dust  settled  upon  our  clothing,  which  was 
saturated  with  perspiration.  We  marched  all  that  day  (July  4th)  and  long  into 
the  night.  During  the  night  a  most  terrific  electrical  storm  occurred,  the  rain 
coming  down  in  torrents,  turning  the  dust  into  a  perfect  mortar  and  making}  it 
very  difficult  to  march.  Several  men  were  prostrated  by  lightning  and  a  member  of 
the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  was  killed.  Many  of  the  boys  caught 
their  tin  cups  full  of  water  off  their  cap  rims.  It  was  a  Godsend  to  us  poor 


396     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

thirsty  mortals.  Next  morning,  when  we  were  halted,  the  muddy  water  run 
ning  in  the  gutters  was  used  in  making  our  "coffee,"  and  it  looked  as  though 
it  had  cream  in  it.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  we  felt  its  bad  effects,  and 
when  the  battle  of  Jackson  occurred  many  were  in  a  temporary  hospital,  unfit 
for  duty.  We  were  stationed  near  the  insane  asylum  at  Jackson.  It  was  heart 
rending  as  well  as  amusing  to  hear  the  remarks  and  cries  of  the  crazy  people 
while  the  battle  was  going  on.  After  considerable  fighting  Johnston  retreated, 
and  a  great  many  of  the  rebels  gave  themselves  up,  saying  they  were  dis 
heartened  at  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg  and  General  Lee's  defeat  at  Gettysburg 
at  the  same  time.  Our  losses  were  small  in  comparison  to  the  losses  on  the 
other  side,  and  were  principally  through  disease.  A  party  of  the  sick  were  sent 
around  by  way  of  Vicksburg  and  slept  in  the  city  two  nights  ago.  The  place 
shows  the  effects  of  the  bombardment. 

General  Grant  took  over  30,000  prisoners  from  the  time  of  the  battle  at 
Fort  Gibson  to  the  capture  of  Pemberton's  army  in  Vicksburg,  together  with 
all  their  arms  and  ammunition,  sufficient  to  supply  an  army  twice  that  number. 
No  wonder  they  feel  discouraged. 

We  are  now  awaiting  orders  to  leave  Mississippi,  as  the  war  is  about  set 
tled  in  this  portion  of  the  Confederacy,  and  you  will  hear  from  me  again  when 
we  get  back  to  Kentucky.  Albert  is  still  in  the  hospital  with  his  broken  arm. 


FIRST  DIVISION,  NINTH  ARMY  CORPS, 

Camp  Nelson,  Ky.,  August  23,  1863. 
DEAR  PARENTS : 

Well,  we  are  once  more  in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  where  we  have  plenty  of 
good  water  and  old  Bourbon.  The  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania,  Eleventh  New 
Hampshire,  Thirty-fifth  Massachusetts,  and  Fifty-first  and  Seventy-ninth  New 
York — five  regiments  in  all — embarked  on  board  the  steamer  Planet,  at  Mill- 
dale  Landing,  Yazoo  River,  Thursday,  August  6th,  one  month  after  the  fall  of 
Vicksburg.  The  delay  was  caused  by  the  scarcity  of  transports.  It  wras  a  long, 
tedious  wait.  Every  transport  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity,  with  scarcely 
sufficient  room  to  lie  down  comfortably,  and  in  consequence  we  all  suffered 
more  or  less,  especially  the  sick.  There  was  a  hospital  department  on  the  boat, 
and  many  of  the  boys  were  obliged  to  go  there,  myself  among  the  number. 
There  were  several  deaths,  and  it  is  a  wonder  there  were  not  more,  as  nearly 
every  soldier  was  more  or  less  affected  with  the  disease  contracted  during  the 
Mississippi  campaign.  It  must  have  taken  tons  of  quinine  to  eradicate  the  dis 
ease  from  the  systems  of  the  men.  We  were  in  Mississippi  from  the  17fth  of 
June  to  the  6th  of  August,  right  in  the  hottest  season  of  the  year.  In  just  seven 
days  we  arrived  at  Cairo,  111.  After  landing,  I  was  granted  a  pass  and  went  to 
town.  Being  a  printer  and  the  only  one  in  the  regiment  and  naturally  a  good 
"panhandler"  (as  the  majority  of  printers  are),  I  started  out  on  a  humane  mis 
sion  and  struck  a  printing  office  where  five  printers  were  a't  work.  I  told  them 
my  "tale  of  woe"  and  they  each  very  generously  came  down  with  a  quarter. 
Two  of  them  had  served  in  the  Confederate  army  and  three  in  the  Union  army, 
and  they  were  all  working  together  as  though  they  had  never  fought  againsr 
each  other;  in  printers'  parlance,  using  a  different  kind  of  "shooting  stick" 


The  Mississippi  Campaign  397 

from  that  used  during  their  soldier  life.  Thanking  them  for  their  generosity, 
I  bade  them  goodbye  and  started  to  purchase  some  soft  bread  and  a  little  fruit, 
which  I  took  aboard  the  boat,  where  we  had  a  little  feast.  The  boys  said  that 
bread  (without  butter),  tasted  like  pound  cake,  and  they  wished  there  were  more 
printers  in  the  regiment. 

We  reached  Cairo,  Wednesday  morning,  August  12th,  and  took  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  for  Cincinnati  next  day,  arriving  there  the  same  evening.  At 
many  points  along  the  route  the  good  people  brought  baskets  of  fruit,  bread 
and  butter,  sandwiches,  etc.,  and  dumped  them  in  the  open  box  cars.  The 
train  proceeded  slowly,  doubtless  for  the  purpose  of  giving  them  a  chance  to 
get  the  good  things  aboard  the  train.  A  member  of  Company  K,  Theodore 
Wilson,  of  Wrightsville,  York  County,  Pa.,  died  on  the  way  to  Cincinnati,  from 
disease  contracted  in  Mississippi.  We  were  well  acquainted  as  boys  many  years 
before  the  war.  He  was  a  fine  young  man  and  a  splendid  soldier.  There  were 
several  boys  from  Wrightsville  in  Companies  B  and  K  of  the  Forty-fifth,  whom 
I  was  well  acquainted  with  long  before  the  war,  among  them  Adjutant  Budding, 
Oscar  Kellar,  Howard  Vache,  John  H.  Strickler,  Jacob  Howard,  Peter  Brady, 
the  three  Kelley  brothers,  John,  William  and  Thomas  and  many  others.  *  *  * 

It  is  with  heartfelt  sorrow  that  I  inform  you  of  the  death  of  our  most  ex 
cellent  neighbor  and  fellow  soldier,  Brigadier  General  Welsh.  He  took  sick  on 
August  7th,  the  day  after  the  regiment  embarked  at  Milldale  Landing,  and  died 
at  Cincinnati  on  August  14th.  He  appeared  to  be  in  good  health  and  ;spirits, 
and  no  one  was  more  pleased  than  he  that  the  terrible  campaign  in  Mississippi 
was  over,  and  that  we  were  to  leave  the  scene  where  we  had  experienced1  so 
many  hardships  and  so  much  suffering.  In  his  death  we  have  lost  a  kind  friend, 
a  brave  soldier,  and  one  who  looked  with  pride  upon  his  regiment,  and  who  took 
special  interest  in  perfecting  it  in  all  the  requirements  necessary  to  make  it  an 
ideal  body  of  men.  No  braver  or  more  patriotic  soldier  ever  drew  a  sword  than 
General  Welsh.  The  stroke  is  a  severe  one,  and  his  loss  will  be  felt  not  only 
by  his  immediate  friends  but  by  the  cause  he  so  ardently  espoused.  The  rebel 
bullet  was  never  made  to  take  his  life,  but  death  came  in  the  shape  of  disease, 
and  after  a  week's  illness  he  joined  the  throng  of  patriots  who  sacrificed  their 
lives  on  their  country's  altar  in  defence  of  the  flag  and  perpetuation  of  the 
Union.  A  detail  was  made  from  Companies  B  and  K  to  escort  his  body  home, 
and  no  doubt  you  have  attended  his  funeral  ere  this  date.  We  all  extend  our 
deepest  sympathies  to  the  bereaved  family. 

The  regiment  remained  in  Cincinnati  but  one  day,  and  was  treated  royally 
by  the  citizens.  They  endeavored  to  make  up  for  the  loss  we  sustained  by  not 
being  allowed  to  land  last  spring,  to  partake  of  a  bountiful  repast  that  was  pre 
pared  for  the  soldiers  in  general  at  that  time.  Next  day  we  crossed  the  river 
to  Covington,  Ky.,  where  we  encamped  for  three  days  just  outside  the  city.  We 
then  took  the  cars  over  the  same  route  we  went  last  March,  to  Nicholasville, 
the  terminus  of  the  road,  and  then  marched  about  four  miles  to  this  place — 
Camp  Nelson.  It  is  a  very  pleasant  camping  ground,  except  for  the  fact  that 
we  have  no  water  near  at  hand,  and  have  to  carry  it  a  long  distance. 

The  Ninth  Corps  is  reported  unfit  for  active  service.  There  are  now  more 
sick  than  there  were  in  Mississippi,  resulting  from  a  change  in  climate,  and  the 


398     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

boys  of  the  different  regiments  are  scattered  around  in  many  hospitals.  George 
Lehman  was  detailed  as  a  nurse  when  we  landed  at  Cairo,  but  came  back  to  the 
regiment  this  morning  much  improved  in  health.  He  says  that  the  Columbia 
boys  are  all  doing  well. 

Brother  Albert's  arm  is  almost  well  from  the  accident  he  met  with  in  Mis 
sissippi,  and  he  is  able  to  use  the  drumsticks  again,  though  his  arm  is  crooked 
at  the  wrist. 

We  will  probably  remain  here  a  few  days  to  recuperate,  and  then  proceed 
to  East  Tennessee,  as  there  are  rumors  that  the  rebels  from  Virginia  are  again 
threatening  this  State.  Goodbye  until  you  hear  from  us  again. 


EAST  TENNESSEE  CAMPAIGN 

CAMP  OF  THE  FORTY-FIFTH  PA.  VOL.  INFANTRY, 
Near  Knoxville,   East  Tennessee,   October   18th,   1863. 
DEAR  PARENTS : 

We  are  now  in  East  Tennessee.  We  left  Camp  Nelson  about  the  1st  of 
September  and  marched  to  Camp  Crab  Orchard,  a  distance  of  30  miles,  which 
we  made  in  two  days.  On  the  way  we  passed  our  old  camp  ground,  Dick  Rob 
inson.  Here  Company  K  was  relieved  from  duty  at  headquarters  by  request. 
Brigadier  General  Ferrero  succeeded  General  Welsh  in  command  of  our  brigade. 

After  camping  at  Crab  Orchard  for  about  a  week,  orders  came  for  the 
Ninth  Corps  to  proceed  to  East  Tennessee,  the  objective  point  being  Knoxville. 
Accordingly  on  Thursday  morning,  September  10th,  we  broke  camp,  packed 
knapsacks,  and  with  eight  days'  rations  in  our  haversacks,  started  on  a  march 
of  nearly  200  miles.  We  marched  three  days,  resting  on  Sunday.  We  certainly 
needed  the  rest.  Almost  daily  reveille  was  sounded  at  half-past  three  in  the 
morning  and  we  started  at  five  o'clock,  accomplishing  from  15  to  20  miles  by 
the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  and  occupying  the  remainder  of  the  day  pitching 
our  "dog"  tents,  washing  up  (when  water  was  available),  and  endeavoring  to 
make  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  possible  for  the  night.  Naturally  our  haver 
sacks  grew  lighter,  and  at  the  end  of  four  days'  march  our  rations  had  in  many 
cases  been  devoured,  necessitating  some  foraging.  The  weather  has  been  very 
dry  in  this  section  of  the  country,  and  the  roads  are  very  dusty,  almost  suffo 
cating  one.  It  is  very  warm,  but  we  have  not  suffered  nearly  so  much  from 
the  heat  as  we  did  in  Mississippi,  and  we  have  plenty  of  good  water,  although 
it  is  not  always  convenient  to  our  camp.  Monday  we  again  started  at  the  usual 
hour,  marching  three  days,  resting  on  Thursday,  the  17th.  It  rained  on  Fri 
day  and  we  remained  in  camp  until  Saturday,  when  we  were  ordered  into  line 
at  the  usual  hour  and  marched  four  days  without  resting.  On  Tuesday  we 
reached  Morristown,  a  small  town  on  the  East  Tennessee  and  Virginia  Railroad, 
about  40  miles  from  Knoxville.  Here  we  were  to  take  the  train  for  the  latter 
place,  but  owing  to  a  scarcity  of  rolling  stock  our  brigade  had  to  march.  We 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  399 

left  Morristown  on  Thursday  afternoon,  the  24th,  and  arrived  here  the  follow 
ing  Saturday,  the  26th,  marching  a  distance  of  41  miles  in  two  days.  Altogether 
we  were  on  the  march  17  days,  out  of  which  we  rested  about  five.  I  cannot  tell 
the  exact  distance  we  traveled,  but  it  is  considered  185  miles.  On  Sunday,  Sep 
tember  20th,  we  passed  through  the  celebrated  Cumberland  Gap,  which  is  95 
miles  from  Crab  Orchard.  Here  we  met  a  body  of  captured  Confederates,  un 
der  guard,  on  their  way  to  Kentucky.  Some  of  the  boys  asked  what  regiment 
it  was.  One  of  them  answered,  "The  Hell-roarin'  Fifty-fifth  Georgia!  You 
d — d  Yankees  caught  us  nappin',  or  you  wouldn't  have  got  us;  but  we'll  get' 
even  with  you  yet." 

Our  march  over  the  Cumberland  mountains  was  a  rough  one,  owing  to  the 
bad  condition  of  the  roads.  In  some  instances  whole  wagonloads  of  provisions, 
mules  and  all,  slide  down  the  embankment.  It  was  impossible  to  rescue  them, 
and  the  poor  animals  had  to  remain  where  they  landed  and  die.  There  was  no 
other  way  to  get  anything  from  Kentucky  to  Tennessee  except  by  wagons,  as 
all  railroad  communication  was  cut  off,  resulting  in  a  scarcity  of  provisions  for 
the  army.  The  whole  country  has  been  devastated  by  both  armies,  and  the  poor 
inhabitants  robbed  of  everything  in  the  way  of  edibles.  It  meant  something  to 
espouse  the  cause  of  Unionism  in  East  Tennessee,  although  both  sides  suffered 
alike  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  It  was  not  an  unusual  sight  to  see  women  in 
the  field  plowing,  as  all  the  able-bodied  men  were  in  the  two  armies. 

Notwithstanding  the  long  and  tedious  march  the  men  held  out  well,  and 
there  was  very  little  straggling.  We  were  obliged  to  ford  several  streams,  the 
principal  ones  being  the  Cumberland,  Clinch,  and  Holston  Rivers,  crossing  the 
two  latter  the  same  day.  Some  of  us  took  off  our  shoes  at  the  first  crossing. 
The  water  was  deep  enough  to  come  up  to  our  necks  and  the  current  being  very 
swift  took  some  of  the  smaller  men  off  their  feet,  nearly  drowning  them.  How 
ever,  we  all  got  over  in  safety.  Upon  reaching  the  opposite  side  you  can  imag 
ine  the  hard  time  we  had  in  getting  our  shoes  and  stockings  on,  with  dripping 
wet  clothes.  In  crossing  we  had  to  hold  our  muskets  and  cartridge  boxes  over 
our  heads  in  order  to  keep  the  powder  dry;  but  some  got  their  powder  pretty 
well  saturated.  By  the  time  we  got  on  our  shoes  and  stockings  the  regiment 
was  nearly  half  a  mile  ahead  and  we  had  to  "double-quick"  in  order  to  catch 
up.  To  make  it  more  unpleasant,  our  feet  had  been  more  or  less  injured  by  the 
sharp  stones  and  gravel,  in  some  instances  drawing  the  blood.  Our  clothing 
was  still  wet  from  crossing  Clinch  River,  when  we  reached  Holston  River.  I 
don't  think  any  of  the  boys  removed  their  shoes  and  stockings  after  their  first 
experience,  and  you  can  imagine  the  discomfort  we  experienced  while  marching 
with  our  shoes  full  of  water.  As  all  the  bridges  across  the  above-named  rivers 
had  been  destroyed,  there  was  no  other  way  to  cross  them  except  by  fording. 
With  all  these  inconveniences  and  hardships,  marching  and  lying  on  the  ground 
in  wet  clothing,  with  but  little  covering  and  inadequate  rations,  we  never  have 
enjoyed  better  health  than  throughout  the  whole  march,  and  at  the  present  time. 
We  averaged  15  miles  a  day,  which  is  considered  good  marching. 

After  being  in  camp  just  one  week  at  this  point,  orders  were  received  to 
return  to  Morristown,  as  that  section  was  threatened  by  a  large  body  of  rebels. 
Accordingly  we  took  the  cars  on  Saturday  morning,  October  3d,  and  proceeded 
about  13  miles  below  Morristown,  to  Bulls  Gap,  where  we  encamped  until  next 


400     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

morning,  when,  we  marched  three  miles  farther  and  encamped  for  nearly  a  week. 
Meanwhile  the  boys  were  compelled  to  do  some  foraging,  as  rations  were  scarce. 
A  squad  of  us  came  across  a  sweet  potato  patch  upon  which  we  immediately 
"charged  bayonets."  I'll  bet  there  wasn't  a  potato  left  in  that  patch.  Each 
man  took  a  part  of  a  row  and  overturned  the  earth  with  his  bayonet  and  in 
less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it  we  had  those  potatoes  washed  and  cooking  in 
the  camp  kettles.  After  boiling  them  they  were  equally  divided  and  everyone 
had  his  haversack  packed  full.  We  dined  on  cold  sweet  potatoes  for  three  days, 
the  best  rations  we  had  since  leaving  Kentucky.  Let  us  hope  the  Government 
remunerated  the  owner  of  that  patch  of  sweet  potatoes.  They  were  a  God-send 
to  hungry  men. 

The  enemy  was  intrenched  near  Blue  Springs.  Early  on  Saturday  morning, 
October  10th,  we  received  orders  to  march,  with  four  days'  rations  and  20  extra 
rounds  of  cartridges  (making  60  rounds  in  all)  issued  to  each  man.  We  all 
knew  that  meant  fight.  After  marching  about  five  miles  we  came  up  to  the  enemy 
and  were  formed  in  line  of  battle.  After  fighting  about  two  hours  we  drove 
them  from  their  position.  Our  loss  in  this  engagement  was  four  killed  and  17 
wounded.  There  were  no  casualties  in  Company  K,  although  we  were  in  the 
thickest  of  the  battle,  and  bullets  flew  like  hail  amongst  us.  Our  regiment  slept 
on  their  arms  in  front  all  night,  expecting  to  renew  the  attack  in  the  morning. 
At  daylight  we  were  deployed  as  skirmishers  across  an  open  field,  but  there  were 
no  "Johnnies"  there,  they  having  retreated  under  cover  of  the  darkness.  We 
went  after  them  double-quick  but  they  had  too  much  of  a  start  for  the  infantry 
to  overtake  them.  Our  cavalry  followed  them  up,  killing  a  number,  and  taking 
many  prisoners.  We  followed  after  the  cavalry,  probably  15  or  20  miles,  and 
all  along  the  road  were  strewn  dead  men  and  horses,  and  broken  wagons,  etc. 
We  passed  the  home  of  Vice  President  Johnson,  Greenville,  East  Tennessee,  on 
this  march  after  the  retreating  enemy,  but  he  was  not  at  home.  We  encamped 
that  night.  The  next  day  we  were  ordered  back  and  had  to  march  over  the 
same  ground.  When  we  arrived  at  Morristown  we  took  the  cars  for  Knoxville, 
arriving  at  our  old  camping  ground  last  Wednesday,  October  14th,  fully  satisfied 
that  we  had  done  our  duty  in  helping  to  drive  the  rebels  out  of  East  Tennessee. 

There  is  one  particular  incident  I  wish  to  refer  to,  which  no  doubt  will 
prove  interesting  to  you  all.  You  remember  Mr.  Samuel  Wright,  at  one  time 
editor  and  publisher  of  the  Columbia  "Spy,"  and  in  whose  printing  office  I  was 
employed  in  1859,  just  after  serving  my  apprenticeship  in  the  Wrightsville 
"Star"'  office,  York  County.  We  had  not  met  since  I  left  his  employ  in  1859 
until  we  met  on  the  battlefield  of  Blue  Springs,  just  as  the  Forty-fifth  was  form 
ing  in  line  of  battle.  He  ranks  as  captain  on  General  Potter's  staff,  and  of 
course  was  on  horseback.  We  saw  and  recognized  each  other  at  the  same  time 
and  had  a  hearty  handshake.  He  said :  "William,  I  wish  you  good  luck."  I 
replied :  "Captain,  I  wish  you  the  same."  We  both  came  out  of  the  battle  un 
harmed.  Little  did  either  of  us  dream  that  when  we  parted  in  1859,  while  fol 
lowing  our  peaceful  avocations,  that  we  would  meet  four  years  later  on  a  South 
ern  battlefield. 

I  can  not  say  when  you  will  hear  from  us  again,  as  we  expect  to  be  on  the 
move.  It  is  rumored  that  Knoxville  is  again  threatened  by  the  reb'els.  They 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  401 

seem  very  anxious  to  regain  their  hold  in  East  Tennessee,  but  will  have  to  fight 
hard  for  it,  as  General  Burnside  says  he  will  defend  the  place  to  the  last  man. 
*  *  *  I  will  write  again  at  the  first  opportunity.  The  next  letter  is  dated: 

BLAINES  CROSS-ROADS,  EAST  TENNESSEE, 

Monday,   December  21st,   1863. 
DEAR  PARENTS  : 

I  am  glad  to  inform  you  that  we  are  both  enjoying  good  health  at  this  writ 
ing,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  hardships  we  experienced  since  my  last  letter, 
written  a  little  over  two  months  ago.  We  have  been  marching  and  fighting  con 
tinually,  lying  in  muddy  rifle  pits  (which  I  helped  to  dig),  and  doing  double 
duty  on  quarter  rations.  I  will  give  a  description  of  our  movements,  asking  you 
to  pardon  the  torn  sheets  of  this  letter.  They  were  perforated  by  a  rebel  bul 
let  passing  through  my  knapsack  and  portfolio  on  our  retreat  from  Lenoir  Sta 
tion  to  Knoxville,  at  the  Battle  of  Campbells  Station,  Monday,  November  16th. 
The  ball  came  diagonally  and  just  grazed  my  side,  passing  close  in  front  of  my 
comrade  on  the  left.  He  was  a  Scotchman.  He  turned  and  looked  at  me,  say 
ing  in  his  Scotch  brogue,  "Bell,  are  you  het?1'  I  said:  "Yes;  I'm  shot  clear 
through  my  knapsack."  All  the  clothing  in  my  knapsack  was  perforated  by  that 
bullet.  We  \vere  under  an  enfilading  fire  at  the  time,  the  rebels  trying  to  out 
flank  and  capture  us.  Men  were  falling  all  around.  *  *  * 

Shortly  after  writing  my  last  letter  home  we  were  ordered  to  proceed  to 
Louden  Bridge,  about  30  miles  from  Knoxville,  which  is  situated  on  the  East 
Tennessee  and  Virginia  Railroad.  Here  we  expected  to  engage  in  battle,  but  the 
rebels  did  not  make  their  appearance.  After  encamping  on  the  north  side  of 
the  river  a  few  days  we  were  ordered  to  recross  and  march  back  toward  Knox 
ville  (a  distance  of  seven  miles)  to  Lenoir  Station,  along  the  above-named 
railroad.  Here  exactly  two  weeks  were  spent  in  hard  work,  on  half  rations, 
building  winter  quarters.  The  rebels  had  been  driven  out  of  the  State  and 
our  corps  was  about  to  take  a  much-needed  rest.  We  commenced  to  build  our 
winter  quarters  on  Friday,  October  30th,  and  completed  them  on  Friday,  Novem 
ber  13th,  and  were  about  to  settle  down  for  a  nice,  quiet  rest  after  our  hard 
two  weeks'  work.  The  "houses"  were  about  three  feet  high,  built  of  logs, 
cemented  with  mud,  our  shelter  tents  being  used  for  roofing.  The  camp  was 
laid  out  in  streets,  and  great  care  was  taken  to  have  our  little  houses  exactly  on 
a  line  with  each  other.  You  can  imagine  how  hard  the  boys  worked  cutting 
down  trees,  carrying  logs,  mixing  "mortar"  (mud),  and  getting  them  all  to 
gether.  We  had  a  regular  little  town,  and  all  felt  proud  of  their  work.  The 
streets  were  all  "policed"  and  clean,  and  everything  in  "apple-pie"  order.  The 
work  was  finished  on  Friday,  the  13th,  and  some  of  the  boys  remarked  that  it 
was  an  unlucky  date — that  they  didn't  believe  we  would  remain  there  very  long; 
and  we  didn't.  The  very  next  morning,  Saturday  (the  14th),  we  were  ordered 
to  strike  tents,  pack  up,  and  fall  in  immediately,  as  General  Longstreet's  Corps 
was  coming  to  attack  the  Ninth  Corps  and  recapture  Knoxville.  To  make  it 
more  unpleasant,  rain  came  down  in  torrents  and  soon  we  were  wet  to  the  skin. 
It  w^as  certainly  disheartening  to  leave  our  little  "houses"'  after  all  of  our  hard 
labor,  to  go  out  and  march  in  the  wet,  cold,  and  mud.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
disagreeable  days  wre  experienced  during  the  campaign  in  East  Tennessee  ;  yet 


402     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

it  was  mild  to  what  was  in  store  for  us  during  the  next  two  months.  We 
enjoyed  our  comfortable  quarters  but  one  night.  Circumstances  called  us  to 
duty,  and  the  old  Ninth  Corps  was  ready  for  the  emergency. 

General  Burnside  and  his  staff,  whose  headquarters  were  in  Knoxville,  23 
miles  distant,  soon  made  their  appearance  in  the  cars ;  but  instead  of  ordering 
a  retreat  he  (Burnside)  ordered  an  advance  toward  Louden  Bridge,  some  ten 
miles  farther  from  Knoxville.  He  wanted  to  find  out  the  true  situation  and  the 
strength  of  the  enemy  before  retreating.  So  we  marched  all  day  through  the 
rain  and  mud  to  a  point  on  the  Holston  River  about  three  miles  below  Louden 
Bridge.  The  bridge  had  been  burned,  but  the  rebels  had  thrown  pontoons  over 
the  river  and  were  crossing.  The  Twenty-third  Corps  (six  months'  men)  were 
righting  them  when  we  got  near,  but  darkness  coming  on  the  Ninth  Corps  did 
not  get  into  the  battle.  General  Burnside  ordered  Companies  K  and  I  of  our 
regiment  to  be  detailed  for  duty  at  his  headquarters  during  the  night,  so  we 
got  very  little  sleep,  having  no  shelter  and  being  exposed  to  the  cold,  in  wet 
clothes.  Next  morning  we  expected  to  do  some  fighting,  but  before  daylight  the 
whole  force  was  ordered  to  fall  back,  as  the  enemy  was  too  strong,  and  a  battle 
at  that  point  would  no  doubt  have  been  disastrous  to  us,  with  no  fortifications 
or  rifle  pits  to  protect  us  against  a  force  of  five  times  our  number.  Thus  we 
had  to  go  over  the  same  ground  we  marched  the  day  before,  closely  followed  by 
the  enemy ;  and  in  many  instances  the  artillery  got  stuck  in  the  mud  and  we  had 
to  assist  in  getting  the  horses  and  cannon  out  to  prevent  them  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  rebels.  When  we  arrived  at  Lenoir  Station,  our  old  camping 
ground,  a  line  of  battle  was  formed  to  hold  the  enemy  in  check,  and  we  lay  on 
our  arms  all  night,  with  no  shelter,  shivering  with  the  cold,  scarcely  anything 
to  eat,  and  no  sleep.  No  fires  were  allowed  to  be  made  as  the  rebel  line  of 
battle  was  near  and  the  light  would  have  attracted  their  fire.  (No  doubt  they 
were  suffering  from  the  same  inconveniences  that  we  were.)  Early  next  morn 
ing  we  commenced  to  retreat  toward  Knoxville,  forming  lines  of  battle  every 
few  miles  to  hold  them  in  check.  When  we  reached  Campbells  Station  they 
came  near  outflanking  our  brigade  and  capturing  it;  but  we  gave  them  such  a 
hot  fire  that  they  were  compelled  to  fall  back  in  disorder.  (Here  is  where  the 
bullet  passed  through  my  knapsack.)  They  tried  to  outflank  us  several  times, 
in  each  attempt  being  repulsed.  After  marching,  forming  line  of  battle,  and 
fighting  all  day,  we  retreated,  marching  all  night  through  the  mud,  tired,  hun 
gry,  and  almost  dead  for  want  of  sleep,  having  had  scarcely  any  for  three  con 
secutive  nights.  To  add  to  our  discomforts,  in  crossing  a  small  creek  on  a  slip 
pery  log  in  the  dark,  several  of  us  missed  our  footing  and  fell  in  the  stream, 
which  had  been  swollen  by  the  heavy  rains.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  I 
recovered  my  musket,  which  went  to  the  bottom.  Of  course  it  was  useless  until 
I  withdrew  the  cartridge  and  cleaned  and  dried  the  gun.  The  only  article  that 
didn't  get  wet  was  the  "rations,"  as  our  haversacks  were  as  empty  as  our  stom 
achs.  We  had  15  miles  yet  to  march  before  reaching  Knoxville,  where  we  arrived 
Tuesday  morning,  the  17th.  Our  first  meal  in  Knoxville  consisted  of  cabbage 
stalks,  which  we  enjoyed  very  much.  We  struck  a  large  patch  and  the  way  we 
went  for  the  stalks  was  a  caution.  Of  course  we  wouldn't  have  touched  the 
stalks  if  the  heads  had  been  on  them  (?).  After  our  "meal''  we  got  about  two 
hours'  sleep.  Having  no  change  of  clothing,  we  were  obliged  to  let  our  clothes 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  403 

dry  upon  us.  Many  a  soldier  thought  of  his  good  home  as  he  marched  along 
that  night  in  wet,  heavy  clothing,  fatigued,  hungry  and  sleepy;  yet  thankful  that 
he  had  been  more  fortunate  than  many  of  his  comrades  who  had  fallen  in  battle, 
or  still  worse,  were  wounded  and  captured  by  the  enemy.  I  will  cite  one  in 
stance:  A  poor  fellow  was  badly  wounded  through  the  thigh,  and  unable  to 
walk.  (He  told  another  comrade  and  myself  what  regiment  he  belonged  to,  but 
I  have  forgotten  it.)  He  begged  us  to  try  and  save  him  from  being  taken  pris 
oner.  We  carried  him  quite  a  distance,  supporting  him  on  either  side,  but  the 
enemy  advanced  so  rapidly  and  kept  up  such  a  continual  fire  that  we  had  to 
leave  him  to  his  fate,  or  be  taken  prisoners,  and  perhaps  killed.  He  thanked  us 
for  our  efforts  in  trying  to  save  him,  and  the  last  words  we  heard  him  say,  were : 
"Boys,  I  don't  want  to  see  you  taken  prisoners  on  my  account ;  let  me  lie  right 
here."  We  hurried  up  to  our  lines  and  got  there  just  as  the  rebels  opened  a 
terrific  fire  on  our  troops,  receiving  our  fire  in  return,  which  threw  them  in 
disorder  and  checked  their  advance.  Their  bullets  whistled  all  around  us,  but 
few  taking  effect.  Their  artillery  was  not  idle  either,  and  several  shells  fell  near 
and  beyond  our  lines.  One  large  shell  came  right  through  our  ranks  and  di 
rectly  in  the  path  of  Lieutenant  A.  J.  Fessler,  of  Company  K,  when  some  of  our 
boys  yelled  at  him  to  get  out  of  the  way.  He  did  so  just  in  time  to  escape  being 
killed.  The  shell  struck  the  ground  probably  100  yards  beyond  our  lines,  doing 
no  damage  except  plowing  up  the  ground,  as  it  did  not  explode. 

After  resting  part  of  Tuesday,  General  Burnside  came  riding  along  the  lines 
and  gave  orders  to  the  officers  in  command  of  the  different  regiments  to  have 
their  men  dig  rifle  pits  and  throw  up  entrenchments  around  the  city.  Half  ra 
tions  were  issued,  after  which  we  worked  until  after  midnight,  when  we  were 
relieved  by  others.  Next  day  we  again  resumed  work  in  the  afternoon  and  con 
tinued  until  midnight,  when  we  were  again  relieved  and  slept  until  Thursday 
morning.  I  well  remember  the  general's  remark :  "Colonel,  have  your  men  de 
tailed  to  dig  some  rifle  pits ;  it  may  be  the  means  of  saving  some  lives ;"  which 
certainly  proved  true. 

Thursday  morning,  November  19th,  the  rebels  made  their  appearance  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  town  and  the  Forty-fifth  was  sent  out  on  the  skirmish  line, 
remaining  there  48  hours  (double  duty)  without  shelter.  It  rained  most  of  the 
time.  No  one  dared  show  himself  during  the  daytime  without  being  fired  at  by 
the  rebel  sharpshooters.  A  member  of  Company  E  was  picked  off  by  a  sharp 
shooter  hid  among  the  rocks  and  trees  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Holston  River, 
and  died  later  from  the  effects  of  the  wound.  Holes  had  been  dug  in  the 
ground  on  the  extreme  outposts  after  night,  and  two  men  were  detailed  and  oc 
cupied  each  hole  on  vidette  duty.  Our  instructions  were  to  give  the  alarm  by 
firing  our  muskets  in  case  of  an  attack  by  the  enemy.  The  penalty  for  being 
caught  asleep  on  picket  duty  in  front  of  the  enemy  is  death,  as  the  lives  of 
many  would  be  jeopardized  by  the  neglect  of  duty  on  the  part  of  the  picket.  Our 
meager  rations,  consisting  of  a  double  handful  of  broken  hardtack  and  a  cup 
of  black  corn  coffee,  were  brought  to  us  after  dark  by  our  faithful  old  cook, 
Jake  Butcher.  Old  Jake  used  to  say  to  the  boys,  when  they  were  in  camp  where 
the  rations  were  plentiful  (not  in  Tennessee),  and  they  came  for  their  second 
cup  of  coffee  or  soup,  "Go  het  mit  your  tincup ;  no  more  bean  soup1'  (or  coffee 


404     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

as  the  case  might  be.)     He  was  a  typical  Dutchman,  and  true  as   steel  to  the 
boys  in  dealing  out  rations. 

There  were  two  fine  college  buildings  in  Knoxville,  right  on  the  line  of  bat 
tle,  and  pickets  were  placed  in  them  from  time  to  time.  Holes  had  been  made 
in  the  walls,  through  which  we  would  protrude  our  rifles  and  fire  at  the  enemy's 
sharpshooters,  who  promptly  returned  the  fire  from  their  hiding  places.  I  was 
detailed  for  picket  duty  and  occupied  the  cupola  on  one  or  two  occasions.  Every 
shot  fired  would  be  promptly  answered,  and  a  bullet  would  come  uncomfortably 
close  sometimes.  The  colleges  were  badly  wrecked  during  the  siege.  On  another 
occasion  a  detail  was  made  for  picket  duty  and  we  were  stationed  directly  in 
front  of  some  buildings  in  which  were  rebel  sharpshooters,  where  we  remained 
for  48  hours  without  being  relieved.  A  friendly  log  protected  me,  and  but  for 
that  log  I  would  not  be  here  to  tell  the  tale.  We  exchanged  about  25  shots,  and 
I'll  bet  that  log  was  full  of  rebel  bullets.  Suddenly  a  great  noise  and  some 
firing  was  heard  in  front,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  buildings  were  in  flames. 
A  party  of  our  men  had  been  detailed  to  fire  those  buildings  and  drive  out  the 
sharpshooters,  which  was  successfully  accomplished ;  but  the  rebels  took  ad 
vantage  of  the  light  made  by  the  fire  and  bombarded  our  camp,  killing  some 
mules. 

On  Saturday  morning,  November  21st,  we  were  ordered  into  the  muddy 
rifle  pits  to  be  ready  in  case  of  an  attack  by  the  enemy.  Besides  rifle  pits  other 
fortifications  for  defense  were  erected.  A  deep  ditch  was  dug  in  front  of  Fort 
Sanders,  with  abatis,  making  it  almost  impregnable.  A  wire  was  also  stretched 
and  fastened  on  stumps  of  trees  for  several  hundred  yards,  just  high  enough 
to  strike  a  man  midway  between  his  feet  and  his  knees.  For  nearly  two  weeks 
more  we  held  the  place  against  their  repeated  attacks,  in  which  they  were  re 
pulsed  with  dreadful  slaughter.  Their  last  desperate  effort  to  capture  Knox 
ville  was  made  on  Sunday  morning,  November  29th,  before  daylight,  when  they 
charged  upon  Fort  Sanders  and  were  driven  back,  leaving  the  ground  strewn 
with  their  dead  and  wounded.  Darkness  prevented  their  seeing  the  wire  and 
they  fell  pell  mell  over  it,  completely  demoralizing  the  first  column.  We  under 
stood  the  officers  had  a  hard  time  rallying  them  for  the  attack.  The  officers  said 
that  they  would  have  no  troops  to  contend  with  but  six  months'  men,  and  they 
could  easily  overcome  them,  as  they  were  raw  recruits ;  but  they  found  they 
had  been  deceived  when  they  discovered  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  in  front  of 
them.  The  Forty-fifth  Regiment  was  on  the  extreme  left,  the  lines  extending  to 
the  banks  of  the  Holston  River.  Next  morning  a  flag  of  truce  was  sent  in  to 
bury  the  dead.  It  was  a  dreadful  sight.  Many  of  the  poor  fellows  were  in  their 
last  dying  agonies.  We  talked  to  some  who  came  over  under  the  flag  of  truce 
and  they  seemed  to  think  they  would  yet  capture  Knoxville.  They  said  "That 
wire  scheme  was  a  dirty  Yankee  trick."  It  certainly  aided  in  defeating  them.* 

The  Union  loss  in  the  engagement  at  the  fort  was  five  killed  and  14  wounded. 
General  Longstreet  admitted  his  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners  at  813 
men.  The  following  general  orders  were  issued  from  headquarters  Ninth  Army 
Corps :  I 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  405 

HEADQUARTERS  NINTH  ARMY  CORPS, 
Knoxville,  Tennessee,  December  1st,   1863. 
"General  Orders    ) 
No.  72.  \ 

''The  Commanding  General  desires  particularly  to  congratulate  the  officers 
and  soldiers  composing  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sanders  on  their  gallant  conduct 
during  the  assault  on  that  fort  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  ultimo. 

'To  Benjamin's  Battery,  with  such  portions  of  Buckley's  and  Roemer's  as 
were  with  them  in  the  fort,  the  Seventy-ninth  Regiment  New  York  Volunteers 
(Highlanders),  the  Second  Regiment  Michigan  Volunteers,  and  a  detachment 
of  the  Twenty-ninth  Regiment  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  is  due  the  credit  of  re 
pulsing  a  picked  column  of  the  enemy,  killing,  wounding,  and  taking  prisoners 
therefrom  treble  their  own  number,  besides  capturing  three  stands  of  colors. 

"To  all  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Ninth  Corps  too  much  praise  can  not 
be  awarded  for  the  heroism,  patience,  and  valor  displayed  by  them  on  all  occa 
sions  for  the  last  six  weeks.  Whenever  you  have  met  the  enemy  in  battle  or 
skirmish,  you  have  shown  your  superiority. 

"The  enemy  can  no  longer  afford  to  remain  inactive.  Already  large  forces 
are  pressing  forward  to  our  relief  from  different  points.  Should  he  hazard 
an  assault  on  our  lines  before  retreating,  he  will  find  that  his  reception  at  Fort 
Sanders  was  a  foretaste  of  what  he  will  receive  at  every  point  of  our  works. 

"By  command  of  Brig.  Gen.  R.  B.  POTTER  : 

NICHOLAS  BOWEN,  A.  A.  G. 
OFFICIAL  : 


Assistant  Adjutant  General." 

All  we  had  to  live  upon  during  the  siege  was  a  small  piece  of  heavy  black 
bran  bread,  and  a  piece  of  fresh  pork  or  "beef"  (mule  meat)  a  day,  for  three 
weeks,  with  no  coffee  (except  roasted  corn  burnt  and  pounded  fine),  when  we 
could  steal  it  from  the  poor  mules,  or  beg  it.  It  was  utterly  impossible  to  buy 
anything  to  eat  in  the  town,  as  no  one  had  anything  to  sell.  What  we  got  for  a 
day's  rations  did  not  satisfy  us  for  one  meal.  Sometimes  we  received  a  little 
cornmeal  instead  of  the  bran  bread.  We  never  dreamed  we  would  experience  a 
time  when  we  would  be  obliged  to  beg  or  steal  an  ear  of  corn ;  but  we  had  to 
do  it  in  Knoxville.  Yes,  it  is  true;  we  stole  the  corn  from  the  poor  old  mules, 
and  afterward  helped  to  eat  mule  meat  in  the  shape  of  "beef."  I  took  two  ears 
from  a  mule's  trough  which  were  partly  eaten;  but  that  made  no  difference  to  a 
lot  of  starving  soldiers.  It  is  said  that  "necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention," 
which  applies  in  this  case.  We  would  take  an  old  tin  plate  and  punch  holes  in 
it  with  a  nail,  which  formed  a  kind  of  grater  on  the  opposite  side  and  then  rub 
the  ear  of  corn  over  it,  making  a  coarse  meal,  which  we  would  mix  with  water 
and  bake  into  a  "slap-jack."  We  never  questioned  whether  the  mule  had  hacf 
the  first  bite  out  of  that  ear.  I  thought  of  the  "times  that  tried  men's  souls," 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  especially  the  suffering  and  hardships  of 
Washington's  Army  at  Valley  Forge,  Pa.,  in  the  winter  of  1777-78,  of  which  I 
had  read  when  a  school-boy. 


406     Fort\-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

General  Burnside  received  an  invitation  from  a  prominent  citizen  of  Knox- 
ville  to  dine  with  him,  but  declined,  saying:  "I  thank  you  very  much  for  the 
kind  offer;  but  I  could  not  conscientiously  sit  down  to  a  good,  square  meal 
while  my  men  are  starving,"  or  words  to  that  effect. 

I  have  not  finished  telling  you  about  the  rebels.  Reinforcements  were  sent 
to  the  relief  of  the  Ninth  Corps  from  the  army  at  Chattanooga  and  Longstreet 
was  compelled  to  leave  without  capturing  Knoxville.  We  were  ordered  after  him, 
although  in  such  a  weak  condition  that  marching  was  a  great  hardship.  Neverthe 
less  we  made  12  miles  the  first,  eight  miles  the  second,  and  12  miles  the  third  day, 
without  overtaking  him.  During  the  three  days'  march  we  had  nothing  to  eat  but 
parched  corn,  and  not  one-fourth  enough  of  that  to  appease  our  hunger.  Five  dol 
lars  or  even  ten  dollars  would  have  been  freely  given  for  a  good  square  meal  if  it 
could  have  been  gotten.  Money  was  a  secondary  consideration.  Yet  the  boys  held 
out  nobly  under  the  trying  ordeal,  and  there  was  very  little  straggling.  At  present 
we  are  about  20  miles  east  of  Knoxville,  formed  in  line  of  battle,  where  we  have 
been  since  last  Wednesday,  the  16th,  having  fallen  back  12  miles.  It  was  reported 
that  Longstreet  had  received  reinforcements  from  Virginia  and  would  probably 
make  another  attempt  to  capture  Knoxville.  It  proved  a  false  rumor,  however. 
It  is  the  general  opinion  that  they  have  made  themselves  scarce  in  Tennessee. 
At  least  their  chances  are  very  slim  to  regain  a  foothold  in  this  State,  as  rein 
forcements  to  the  number  of  50,000  are  on  their  way  from  Chattanooga.  We 
heard  it  was  rumored  at  home  that  the  Ninth  Corps  had  been  captured;  but 
don't  believe  all  you  read  in  the  newspapers.  The  enemy  certainly  took  des 
perate  chances  on  several  occasions  to  accomplish  this  end,  within  the  last  five  or 
six  weeks,  but  most  signally  failed. 

There  are  rumors  that  our  corps  is  going  to  Washington,  D.  C,  as  General 
Burnside  has  been  relieved  by  General  Foster  in  this  department,  and  it  is  said 
that  Burnside  is  going  to  relieve  General  Heintzleman,  who  has  charge  of  the 
defenses  at  Washington.  The  boys  think  this  piece  of  news  is  too  good  to  be 
true.  We  certainly  have  experienced  hard  service  in  the  Mississippi  and  East 
Tennessee  campaigns  during  the  past  year,  and  think  we  are  entitled  to  a  little 
rest.  All  will  agree  that  the  campaign  of  East  Tennessee  has  been  one  of  the 
severest  of  the  war,  inasmuch  as  we  were  obliged  to  march,  fight,  lie  in  muddy 
rifle  pits  for  days,  on  the  outposts  for  48  hours  (double  duty),  exposed  to  all 
kinds  of  weather  and  the  enemy's  sharpshooters,  besides  fording  rivers,  and 
having  scarcely  enough  to  eat  and  keep  body  and  soul  together.  This  is  a  true 
version  of  the  story,  and  no  exaggeration,  as  all  the  boys  will  testify.  God  only 
knows  how  we  pulled  through  and  are  as  well  as  we  are.  None  of  the  boys 
have  been  troubled  with  indigestion  since  we  struck  Tennessee.  At  this  writ 
ing  the  weather  is  very  cold,  and  many  of  the  poor  fellows  have  no  shoes.  We  keep 
up  log  fires  all  night,  and  the  boys  run  out  of  their  shelter  tents  to  warm  them 
selves,  freezing  on  one  side  while  warming  the  other,  besides  having  their  eyes 
filled  with  smoke.  It  is  nothing  unusual  for  a  fellow  to  wake  up  and  find  his  feet 
in  the  snow,  as  our  shelter  tents  are  but  poor  protection.  The  people  living  in  this 
section  say  it  is  the  coldest  winter  they  have  experienced  for  seven  years. 

We  received  two  months'  pay  a  few  days  ago,  but  money  is  of  no  account 
here,  as  there  is  nothing  to  be  had  in  this  devastated  country.  We  have  a  sutler 
with  us  now,  but  he  charges  such  exorbitant  prices  that  what  you  get  for  a 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  407 

dollar  would  not  give  you  a  square  meal.  I  went  on  a  foraging  expedition  the 
other  day.  Captain  Kelsey,  Adjutant  Budding,  Lieutenant  Fessler,  and  some 
more  of  the  boys  raised  a  few  dollars,  and  the  adjutant  loaned  me  his  horse. 
I  started  out  to  see  what  I  could  do  in  the  provision  line,  having  an  old  bag 
or  salt  sack  in  case  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  come  across  anyone  who  had  any 
thing  to  spare.  After  traveling  a  mile  or  so  I  came  to  a  little  old  log  house, 
and  riding  up  to  the  door  I  was  greeted  by  an  elderly  lady.  I  told  her  my  mission  ; 
how  we  had  been  starving  for  the  past  three  months;  that  if  she  had  anything 
to  spare  in  the  shape  of  cornbread,  biscuit,  or  anything  else  in  the  eating  line  I 
would  pay  her  well  for  it.  She  scrutinized  me  pretty  closely  and  finally  said 
that  if  I  would  promise  not  to  tell  anyone  where  I  got  the  cornbread  and  biscuit 
she  might  let  me  have  a  small  portion.  The  poor  woman  was  afraid  of  being 
robbed  of  what  little  she  had;  that  is  why  she  cautioned  me  not  to  tell.  She 
produced  the  articles,  I  paid  her  a  reasonable  price,  and  she  said  that  that  was 
the  first  Yankee  money  she  had  seen  for  a  year.  She  happened  to  be  a  Union 
woman  and  said  her  husband  had  been  killed  fighting  for  the  Union  in  a  Ten 
nessee  regiment.  She  told  me  which  way  to  go  to  get  to  the  next  house,  and 
following  her  directions  I  met  with  success,  adding  a  little  more  to  my  precious 
store.  But  I  had  to  repeat  the  same  old  story  and  make  the  same  promises  be 
fore  they  "had  anything  to  spare."  I  was  about  ten  miles  from  camp  when  I 
was  warned  by  a  kind  lady  not  to  go  any  farther,  as  the  rear  guard  of  the  rebel 
army  was  not  a  great  distance  from  there,  and  I  would  be  captured.  Of  course 
I  took  her  advice  and  retraced  my  steps.  This  portion  of  East  Tennessee  is 
very  sparsely  settled  and  one  had  to  go  over  a  great  deal  of  territory  to  find 
a  few  houses.  I  visited  about  a  dozen  places  and  got  enough  cornbread  and 
biscuit  to  almost  fill  the  bag.  You  can  bet  a  big  red  apple  that  I  wasn't  hun 
gry  that  day.  It  was  nearly  dark  when  I  got  back  to  camp,  and  the  boys  thought 
I  had  been  taken  prisoner.  You  ought  to  have  seen  them  look  when  I  un 
loaded  that  bag  of  cornbread  and  biscuit,  and  the  congratulations  I  received  as  to 
my  foraging  ability.  I  certainly  had  great  luck ;  but  of  course  I  had  to  use  some 
diplomacy  and  much  persuasion,  as  nobody  was  supposed  to  have  anything  over 
and  above  their  own  immediate  needs  in  this  section  of  devastated  country. 

Since  the  Johnnies  have  evacuated  Tennessee  times  are  a  little  better  in  the 
ration  line,  but  an  ear  of  corn  is  still  very  acceptable,  and  we  may  be  fortunate 
enough  to  have  roast  corn  for  our  Christmas  dinner,  which  will  be  next  Friday. 
Many  a  poor  soldier  will  long  for  his  good  home,  especially  on  that  day,  to  be 
with  the  dear  ones,  there  to  enjoy  a  good  Christmas  dinner — the  happiest  season 
of  the  year.  Although  your  boys  cannot  possibly  be  with  you  this  time,  yet  we 
hope  and  pray  our  lives  may  be  spared  to  meet  with  each  other  at  a  near  future 
happy  holiday  season,  after  this  cruel  war  is  over  and  the  bright  wings  of  peace 
once  more  hover  over  our  now  divided  and  distracted  country.  My  heart  aches 
to  think  of  the  desolate  and  unhappy  homes,  made  so  by  this  dreadful  war,  both 
North  and  South ;  for  whether  he  wore  the  blue  or  the  gray,  some  poor  mother's 
heart  was  broken  at  the  loss  of  her  boy,  so  near  and  dear  to  her.  When  I  write 
thus  I  cannot  suppress  my  feelings,  and  tears  fill  my  eyes;  for  I  have  witnessed 
the  dreadful  result  and  stern  realities  of  war,  and  have  seen  the  sufferings  of 
the  wounded  on  both  sides  in  their  last  dying  agonies,  and  heard  their  cries  for 
mercy  under  the  knife  of  the  surgeon,  while  an  arm  or  limb  was  being  amputated. 


408     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

Thus  far  I  have  been  most  fortunate  in  escaping  the  deadly  missiles  of  the 
enemy,  although  seeing  many  of  my  comrades  fall  around  me,  many  of  them  to 
rise  no  more.  But  to  change  the  subject. 

There  is  a  rumor  afloat  that  the  Ninth  Corps  will  leave  for  Kentucky  in  a 
few  days.  There  is  also  some  talk  about  reenlisting,  and  I  understand  a  great 
many  have  done  so  in  the  different  regiments.  A  local  bounty  of  $402  has  been 
offered  each  soldier,  and  30  days'  furlough  home,  which  is  quite  tempting  to  the 
boys.  We  have  been  here  nearly  four  months  and  have  been  almost  i  constantly 
on  the  move.  If  Johnny  Reb  had  kept  away  we  might  still  be  in  our  comfortable 
winter  quarters  at  Lenoir  Station. 

While  we  wrere  besieged  in  Knoxville  no  mail  was  received  for  six  or  seven 
weeks,  and  everybody  felt  lost  or  deserted  by  the  dear  ones  at  home.  Now  a 
mail  comes  occasionally,  and  it  is  a  great  relief.  I  just  heard  that  we  will  leave 
Tennessee  for  Kentucky  in  a  few  days,  and  it  is  certainly  cheering  news.  The 
worst  feature  about  it  is  that  a  great  many  of  the  boys  are  barefooted,  and  are 
making  covering  for  their  feet  out  of  raw  hides,  mule  skins,  or  anything  they 
can  substitute  for  shoes.  Fortunately  for  myself,  I  happened  to ,  come  across  a 
comrade  from  a  Michigan  regiment  who  had  an  extra  pair  of  shoes  dangling 
from  his  knapsack,  and  I  immediately  made  a  bargain  with  him.  He  agreed  to 
take  two  dollars  for  them,  which  I  promptly  paid.  They  were  new  army  shoes. 
The  boys  said  I  was  a  lucky  cuss  when  I  told  them  about  it ;  and  I  was,  for  I 
was  "on  my  uppers."  We  have  a  march  of  nearly  200  miles  over  the  same  route 
we, traveled  in  September,  but  the  weather  is  much  colder.  We  will  have  to 
ford  some  rivers,  as  all  the  bridges  are  burned. 

It  is  understood  that  the  new  men  are  to  receive  the  benefit  of  the  furlough, 
but  cannot  reenlist  and  get  the  big  local  bounty  that  has  been  offered  by  the 
different  cities  and  towns  in  order  to  fill  up  the  quota  demanded  by  the  govern 
ment,  and  thus  avoid  a  draft. 

You  need  not  send  the  Columbia  "Spy"  now,  as  Mr.  Rambo,  the  editor, 
sends  a  copy  nearly  every  week,  so  we  know  all  the  home  news.  No  doubt 
you  have  read  some  of  my  letters  published  in  the  "Spy."  I  have  written  under 
the  nom  de  plum  "4T5."  Captain  Wright  mentioned  my  name  in  a  letter  to  the 
"Spy"  and  said  we  met  just  as  the  Forty-fifth  was  going  into  the  battle  of 
Blue  Springs,  October  10th. 

I  almost  forgot  to  mention  the  fact  that  during  the  retreat  to  Knoxville 
three  of  our  company  were  taken  prisoners — Benjamin  Kauffman  of  Mountville, 
Samuel  Cohick  of  Drytown,  and  Joseph  McLain  of  Washington  Borough,  Pa. 
None  of  them  have  been  heard  from  since.  Robert  Hall,  of  Columbia,  a  mem 
ber  of  Company  B,  was  also  taken  prisoner,  but  they  paroled  him.  They  took 
his  overcoat,  blanket  and  boots,  but  I  am  told  they  very  generously  gave  his 
boots  back.  I  will  close  for  this  time  and  hope  we  will  leave  this  devastated 
country  and  be  with  the  dear  ones  at  home  in  the  near  future. 

********** 

Here  is  an  article  I  clipped  from  the  Washington  "Chronicle"  in  reference 
to  the  Forty-fifth  Regiment,  published  just  before  the  grand  review,  in  May, 
1865,  and  which  I  have  had  in  my  possession  ever  since.  "The  Cartridge  Box" 
exchanged  with  the  "Chronicle,"  and  that  is  how  I  happened  to  get  the  article. 
It  is  as  follows: 


East  Tennessee  Campaign  409 

"We  yesterday  accompanied  Hon.  A.  G.  Curtin  and  James  L.  Reynolds, 
Quartermaster  General  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  to  Alexandria  and  vicinity, 
where  the  governor  visited  a  number  of  the  regiments  of  his  commonwealth, 
connected  with  the  Ninth  Army  Corps.  The  greater  part  of  this  contingent  is 
encamped  in  the  suburbs  of  Alexandria,  although  one  division  has  been  stationed 
temporarily  elsewhere. 

"It  is  a  singular  fact,  repeated  by  a  veteran  officer  yesterday,  that  in  the  four 
years'  service  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  has  invariably  been  attracted  toward 
Washington  in  the  month  of  April.  Many  regiments  are  encamped  on  nearly  the 
same  ground  they  occupied  previous  to  the  departure  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac,  under  General  McClellan,  for  Richmond,  in  the  spring  of  1862. 

ALL  WAS  EXCITEMENT 

"How  different  the  feelings  of  those  brave  soldiers  now,  however,  from 
those  of  former  years.  Then  all  was  excitement,  anxiety,  and  a  deep  sense  of 
the  responsibilities  that  awaited  them.  Now  the  hardened  veterans,  the  lithe 
athletic  and  experienced  warriors,  feel  that  their  work  has  been  accomplished, 
that  the  white-winged  messenger  of  peace  is  hovering  over  them ;  that  they  have 
fought  the  good  fight,  have  covered  themselves  with  laurels,  entitled  themselves 
to  the  thanks  and  gratitude  of  a  restored  Republic,  and  will  soon  be  permitted 
to  visit  their  loved  ones,  who  are  anxiously  awaiting  their  return. 

"Upon  inquiry  we  were  at  first  surprised  to  learn  that  several  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  regiments  numbered  over  600  men,  but  we  soon  ascertained  that  this 
was  due  to  the  steady  reenforcements  that  had  been  furnished. 

"One  particular  regiment,  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania,  will  suffice,  we  pre 
sume,  as  an  example  for  nearly  all.,  This  was  one  of  the  first  regiments  Ithat 
entered  the  army  from  Pennsylvania  and  w-as  commanded  by  Colonel  Welsh. 
To-day  it  numbers  600  men. 

"All  of  the  original  officers  but  two,  Lieut.  Col.  Theodore  Gregg  and 
Brig.  Gen.  Irwin  Curtin,  a  nephew  of  the  governor,  who  entered  the  army  as  a 
private  in  the  Forty-fifth,  was  severely  wounded  in  the  arm  at  Antietam  and  at 
Ream's  Station,  and  now  commands  a  brigade  in  the  Second  Division  of  the 
Ninth  Corps,  have  been  gathered  to  their  fathers. 

BUT  FEW  CAME  BACK. 

"Very  few  of  the  original  troops  remain.  This  regiment  has  probably  been 
over  a  greater  portion  of  our  country  than  any  other  from  the  State  of  Penn 
sylvania,  having  done  duty  in  nearly  every  one  of  the  Southern  States,  and  will 
be  long  remembered  for  the  gallantry  displayed  during  the  war. 

'"Yesterday  all  of  the  soldiers  appeared  to  be  in  an  excellent  .condition,  and 
having  passed  through  so  many  terrible  campaigns  are  now  enjoying  their  much- 
needed  repose.  The  regular  routine  of  drill  is  kept  up,  however,  and  dress 
parade  is  daily  had  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening.  They  are  all  well  clothed  and 
provided  with  comfortable  quarters. 

"Every  hillside  is  covered  with  tents,  and  the  old  familiar  sound  of  the 
reveille,  the  tattoo,  and  the  inspiring  strains  from  many  bands  reverberate 
through  the  vales  of  old  Virginia.  Generals  and  their  associate  officers  have  se 
lected  their  headquarters  near  the  grand  old  residences  which  abound  in  the 
vicinity  of  Alexandria." 


410     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


THE  ITINERARY 

Compiled  by  Sergeant  Eugene  Beauge  from  war  time  notes  in 
his  diary;  with  the  assistance  of  Lieutenant  T.  J.  Davies,  who  fur 
nished  data  of  the  East  Tennessee  Campaign,  from  Crab  Orchard 
to  Elaine's  Cross  Roads. 

1861 

Sept.  Companies  recruited  and  men  sworn  in  at  Camp  Cur- 

tin,  Harrisburg. 
Oct.   14-18     Mustered  into  United  States  service. 

21  Left  Harrisburg  by  rail. 

22  Marched  through  Baltimore  and  arrived  in  Washing 
ton. 

23  Marched  to  Camp  Welsh  near  Bladensburg,  D.  C. 
27     Moved  to  Camp  Casey,  D.  C. 

Nov.    3-10     Forced  march  to  Prince  Frederick,  Md.,    (to  guard 

general  election)  and  return. 
17     Left  Camp  Casey  and  marched  to  Camp  Beaver,  two 

miles  nearer  Washington. 
19     Left  Camp  Beaver  by  rail. 

21  Arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe,  going  from  Baltimore  by 
water. 

Dec.          5     Received  our  first  pay  from  "Uncle  Sam." 

6     Left  Camp  Hamilton  near  Fortress  Monroe  and  em 
barked  on  steamers  "Cosmopolitan"  and  "Illinois." 
8     Arrived  at  Port  Royal,  South  Carolina,  where  regiment 
was  divided;  Companies  B,   F,   G,   H  and   K  under 
Colonel  Welsh  going  to  Otter  Island,  while  the  other 
five  companies  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Beaver,  A,  C, 
D,  E  and  I,  were  stationed  at  Bay  Point,  Seabrook  and 
Pope's  Plantation,  on  Hilton  Head  Island. 
1862 
May        21     Right  wing  left  Otter  Island  on  steamer  "Potomac." 

22  Six  companies  (Company  I  having  arrived  from  Bay 
Point),  landed  on  North  Edisto  Island. 

June          i     Landed  on  Johns  Island. 

2     Marched   several  hours   suffering  greatly   from  heat 

and  thirst. 
6     Marched  thirteen  miles  to  Legreesville. 


The  Itinerary 


411 


June  9  Crossed  Stono  River  to  James  Island  on  steamer  "Mat- 
tano." 

June  10  Details  of  Companies  H  and  I  repulsed  a  largely  su 
perior  force  of  the  enemy.  Thomas  Jobe  of  Company 
H  killed.  First  death  in  regiment  in  action. 

June  1 6  Regiment  in  reserve  while  a  Union  force  under  Gen 
eral  Benham  made  unsuccessful  assault  on  enemy's 
works  at  Secessionville. 

July          2     From  James  Island  to  Port  Royal  on  steamer  "Ben 

Deford." 
9     Passed  in  review  before  General  Williams.     Many  of 

the  men  overcome  by  extreme  heat. 

ii  Moved  to  Elliott's  Plantation  on  Broad  river,  where 
Companies  A,  C,  D  and  E  joined  balance  of  regiment 
after  a  separation  of  six  months. 

17  Marched  to  landing  at  Port  Royal. 

18  Left  South  Carolina  on  U.  S.  steamer  "Arago." 

20  Arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 

21  Landed  at  Newport  News. 

Aug.         4     Left  Newport  News  on  steamer  "Elm  City." 

5  Landed  at  Acquia  Creek. 

6  Regiment,  except  Companies  I  and  K,  went  on  cars  to 
Brookes  Station,  to  guard  railroad  in  that  locality. 

Sept.  4  Left  Acquia  Creek  for  Washington  on  steamer  "Ex 
press." 

7-13     On  the  march  from  Washington  to  Frederick,  Md. 
14     Battle  of  South  Mountain. 
17     Antietam. 

19  Moved  to  Pleasant  Valley. 

7  Changed  location  to  "Camp  Israel,"  still  in  Pleasant 
Valley. 

26     Left  Pleasant  Valley,  Md.,  crossed  Potomac  on  pon 
toon  at  Berlin  and  camped  near  Lovettsville,  Va. 
30     Marched  eight  miles  to  Water  ford. 

2     Marched  sixteen  miles  to  Philemont  on  Washington 
turnpike. 

5  Between  eight  A.  M.  and  three  P.   M.   marched  ten 
miles  to  Rectortown. 

6  Marched  eighteen  miles  to  Orleans. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


412     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Nov.         7     From    two    to    five    P.    M.    marched    four    miles    to 
Waterloo. 

15  Left  Waterloo  and  marched  to  White  Sulphur  Springs. 

1 6  Marched  twelve  miles  to  Warrenton  Junction. 
19     At  Falmouth  opposite  Fredericksburg. 

Dec.        12  Crossed  Rappahannock  to  Fredericksburg. 

13  In  reserve  during  battle  of  Fredericksburg. 

15  Recrossed  river  to  our  old  camp. 

16  to 
1863 

Feb.          9     Camped  at  Falmouth  opposite  Fredericksburg. 

10  On  cars  to  Acquia  Creek  and  from  there  by  steamer 
"John  A.  Warner"  to  Newport  News. 

March    22     Left   Newport   News   on  boat   "Mary   Washington," 
except  Companies  C  and  D  and  small  detail  from  each 
of  the  other  companies  left  back  for  special  duty,  join 
ing  us  later  on. 
24     Baltimore,  Md. 

24-26     By  rail  on  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  to  Parkersburg, 
Va. 

27  On  board  transport  "Lacrosse"  on  Ohio  river. 

28  Landed  at  Covington,  Ky.,  from  there  by  rail  to  Paris. 
April      10     By  rail  to  Nicholasville. 

11  Marched  to  Camp  Dick  Robinson. 
30     On  the  march  to  Stanford. 

May          i  Marched  to  Hustonville. 

2  To  Middleburg  on  Green  river. 

1 1  Batk  to  Hustonville. 

22  Citizens  of  Hustonville  gave  us  a  picnic. 

23  From  Hustonville  to  Liberty. 
26  To  Columbia. 

30     Jamestown. 

June         2     Rebels  attacked  our  pickets. 
4     Left  Jamestown. 

6  Arrived  at  Lebanon. 

7  To  Louisville  by  rail  and  crossed  Ohio  river  to  Jeffer- 
sonville,  Ind. 

8  On  cars,  through  Seymour,  Ind.,  and  Centralia,  111., 
to  Cairo. 

10     Embarked  on  steamer  "Sallie  List." 


The  Itinerary  413 


June  11-17     At  Memphis,  Tenn. 

1 8  Steaming  down  the  Mississippi. 

19  Landed  at  Snyders  Bluff. 

20  to 

July          4     (When    Vicksburg    surrendered)     in    trenches    near 
Vicksburg. 

7  Crossed   Big  Black  river   in  pursuit   of   Confederate 
Army  under  Johnston. 

10-17     Siege  of  Jackson,  Mississippi. 
18-19     Tearing  up  Mississippi  Central  Railroad. 
20-23     Marched  to  old  camp  at  Milldale. 
Aug.         5     Got  on  board  transport  "Hiawatha/' 

8  At  Memphis  again. 
10     Cairo,  111. 

12     At  Cincinnati  and  crossed  Ohio  to  Covington,  Ky. 

17  Left  Covington  on  cars. 

1 8  Arrived  at  Camp  Parke,  near  Nicholasville. 

27  Moved  from  Camp  Parke  to  Lancaster. 

28  Marched   to   Crab   Orchard,    thirty-three   miles   from 
Nicholasville. 

Sept.       10     Started  on  march  to  East  Tennessee. 

12     Reached  London,  Ky.,  in  the  evening  and  camped. 
13-16     On  the  march  to  Flat  Lick  on  Cumberland  river. 

19  Marched  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles. 

20  Started  6  A.  M.,  marched  about  fourteen  miles  dur 
ing  the  day;  crossed  Cumberland  Gap  and  camped  a 
mile  beyond. 

21  Marched  twenty  miles ;  crossed  Powell  river  and  Clinch 
mountain  and  camped  within  two  miles  of  Clinch  river. 
Posted  pickets  for  the  night.     In  the  enemy's  country. 

22  Marched  twenty-two  miles ;  forded  Clinch  and  Holston 
rivers  and  camped  at  Morristown. 

24-25     Enroute  to  Knoxville. 

26  Arrived  near  Knoxville  and  camped  about  n  A.  M., 
having  marched  forty  miles  from  Morristown. 

27  to 

Oct.          2     Encamped  near  Knoxville. 

3     On  cars  to  Bull's  Gap,  about  sixty  miles  from  Knox 
ville. 


414     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Oct.  4     Marched  four  miles  to  Blue  Springs. 

10  Battle  of  Blue  Springs. 

11  In  pursuit  of  enemy  to  Rheatown. 

Marched  about  twenty  miles  from  Blue  Springs. 

13  Enroute  back  to  Knoxville.     Marched  sixteen  miles  to 
Henderson  Station. 

14  On   cars   to    Knoxville   and   occupied    our    old    camp 
ground. 

20  Starting  at  7  A.    M.,  we  marched  southward   about 
fifteen  miles  and  camped  at  sundown.     Heavy  can 
nonading  in  direction  of  London. 

21  Marched   ten   miles  and  camped  on   line  of  railway. 
Rained  all  day. 

22  Left  camp  at  2  P.  M. ;  crossed  Holston  river  on  pon 
toon  and  camped  one  mile  beyond  London,  marching 
about  six  miles. 

28  Starting  at  4  A.  M.,  recrossed  Holston  river  on  pon 
toon  and  marched  to  Lenoir  Station,  eight  miles  in  all. 

29  Moved  camp  in  woods  and  ordered  to  build  winter 
quarters. 

30  to 

Nov.        13     Remained  in  camp. 

14  Marched  back  to  London  and  on  road  to  Huff's  Ferry. 
At  7  P.  M.,  after  marching  nine  miles,  formed  line  of 
battle  close  to  the  enemy. 

15  Marched  back  to  Lenoir  Station.     At  4  P.  M.,  formed 
line  of  battle  on  ridge  west  of  the  Station. 

1 6  Battle  of  Campbell's  Station. 

17  After  an  all  night's  march  reached  Knoxville  at  5  A. 
M.,    completely    exhausted,    after    sixty-six   hours    of 
continuous  marching  and  fighting  without  a  minute's 
sleep  or  undisturbed  rest.     Siege  of  Knoxville  began. 

18  At  12:30  A.  M.,  ordered  out  to  build  intrenchments. 
Worked  balance  of  the  night  and  until  6  P.  M. 

19  Regiment  sent  on  skirmish  line  before  daylight  to  re 
lieve    Thirty-sixth    Massachusetts.      Right    wing    en 
gaged. 

20  On  skirmish  line  all  day. 

21  Relieved  from  skirmish  line. 


The  Itinerary  415 


Nov.       23     Regiment  changed  position  and  ordered  to  fortify  and 

hold  six  hundred  yards  of  the  line  at  all  hazards. 
24-27     Siege  of  Knoxville  continued. 

28  About  ii  P.  M.,  enemy  drove  in  our  pickets  in  front 
of  Fort  Sanders. 

29  Our  regiment  in  trenches  but  not  actively  engaged. 
Dec.          4     Two  companies  of  the  regiment  sent  out  to  reconnoiter. 

Found  enemy  still  in  our  front. 

7  Marched  twelve  miles  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy. 

8  Started  about  noon.    Marched  seven  miles  and  camped. 
Our  advance  in  touch  with  the  enemy. 

9  Marched  at  8  A.    M.    Our  regiment   rear  guard  of 
corps.     Marched  twelve  miles  and  camped  near  Rut- 
ledge. 

10     In  camp  waiting  for  rations,  which  did  not  come. 
11-14     In  camp  near  Rutledge. 

15  Formed  line  of  battle  to  support  cavalry  which  had 
been  attacked  by  the  enemy.    At  8  P.  M.,  marched  six 
miles  and  bivouaced  in  line  of  battle.    Bitter  cold. 

1 6  Started    at   9   A.    M.,    and    marched   seven   miles   to 
Blaines  Cross  Roads  and  formed  line  of  battle. 

17-26     Camped  at  Blaines  Cross  Roads,  scantily  clothed  and 
with  practically  no  rations.    Colonel  Curtin  joined  regi 
ment  on  26th  from  home  on  furlough. 
27     Moved  our  camp  to  woods  near  by,  where  we  remained 

during  balance  of  our  stay  in  East  Tennessee. 
1864 
Jan.  i     About  three-fourths  of  the  regiment  present  re-enlisted 

as  Veteran  Volunteers. 

16-24     Enroute  from  Blaines  Cross  Roads  back  over  the  Cum 
berland  mountains  to  Crab  Orchard,  Ky. 

26  At  Camp  Nelson.    Marched  to  Nicholasville.    Evening. 
Drew  clothing,  and  the  Lord  knows  we  needed  it! 

27  At  ii  A.  M.,  regiment  drawn  up  in  line  and  Colonel 
made  short  speech.     Boarded  cars  at  4  P.   M.,  and 
started  toward  Covington. 

28  Arrived  at  Covington  9 :3O  A.  M.    Crossed  Ohio  river 
to  Cincinnati  and  took  quarters  in  Sixth  Street  Mar 
ket  house. 

29  Moved  to  Fifth  Street  Market  house. 
3°     to 


416     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Feb.          3     In  Cincinnati  making  out  muster  rolls. 

4  Left  Cincinnati  on  cars. 

5  Rode  all  day. 

6  Got  to  Pittsburg  at  i   A.  M.,  changed  cars  and  ar 
rived  in  Harrisburg  about  5  P.   M.     Poor  reception, 
bad  quarters  and  cold  supper. 

7  Making  out  furloughs  for  the  men. 

8  Turned  over  our  guns  at  the  State  Arsenal  after  giv 
ing  an  exhibition  of  going  through  the  manual  of  arms 
by  the  tap  of  the  drum. 

9  Regiment  discharged  temporarily.     Officers  and  men 
going  home  on  a  thirty  days'  veteran  furlough. 

March  Regiment  rendezvoused  at  Annapolis,  Mel. 

April      12     Reviewed  by  Generals  Grant  and  Burnside. 

23  Left  camp  and  marched  fifteen  miles. 

25  Marched  through  Washington  and  were  reviewed  by 
President  Lincoln.    Crossed  Long  Bridge  and  camped 
near  Alexandria. 

27  Marched  about  a  mile  beyond  Fairfax  Court  House. 

28  On  the  march.     Crossed  Bull  Run  at  i  P.  M.    At  5  130 
P.  M.,  camped  at  Bristow  Station. 

May         4     Marched  to  near  Bealeton  Station. 

5  Left  camp  5  130  A.  M.     Crossed  Rappahannock  and 
Rapidan  rivers  during  the  day.     Heavy  firing  in  front. 

6  Battle  of  the  Wilderness. 

7  Enemy  gone  in  our  front.     Occupied  their  works. 

8  Marched  to  Chancellorsville  battlefield. 
9-11      Enroute  to  Spottsylvania  Court  House. 

12  Battle  of  Spottsylvania. 

21  Brisk  skirmish  with  enemy  at  Po  river. 

22-23  Marching  toward  North  Anna  river. 

24  Crossed  North  Anna  and  fortified. 

26  Left  our  works  and  recrossed  river. 

27-28     Marching  both  days  until  i  130  A.  M.  of  the  29th. 

29  Crossed  Pamunkey  river. 
30-31     Near  Bethesda  Church. 

June      1-2     At  or  near  Cold  Harbor. 
3     Battle  of  Cold  Harbor. 

7     Heavy  detail  under  Lieut.  Jeffers  of  Company  G  made 
reconnoissance  of  enemy's  line. 


The  Itinerary  417 


June  12-113     From  Sunday  evening,  June   I2th,  marched  till   I   A. 
M.,  of  the  I4th. 

14  Crossed  the  Chickahominy  at  Jones'  Bridge. 

15  Between  n  and  12  P.  M.,  crossed  James  river  on  pon 
toon  bridge. 

1 6  Arrived  before  Petersburg  at  4  P.  M. 

17  Made  charge  at  daybreak  and  helped  capture  two  re 
doubts. 

1 8  Helped  drive  the  enemy  across  Petersburg  and  Nor 
folk  railroad  and  into  their  works,  and  established  our 
line  close  to  the  Confederates. 

19  to 

July        29     Siege  of  Petersburg.     Our  regiment  in  works  oppo 
site  the  undermined  Confederate  fort. 

30  Explosion  of  Burnside's  mine  and  battle  of  the  Crater. 

31  to 

Aug.       1 8     Siege  of  Petersburg  continued. 

19     Marched  to  Welclon  railroad.     Supporting  the  Fifth 

Corps. 
Sept.       30     Battle  of  Poplar  Spring  Church  where  most  of  the 

regiment  was  captured. 

Oct.  27-28     Engagement  at  Hatcher's  Run. 

Nov.         8     Presidential  election.     Result  in  our  regiment:     Lin 
coln,  97  votes;  McClellan,  19. 

29     Marched  six  miles  to  the  right  and  exchanged  camps 
with  part  of  the  Second  Corps. 

Dec.  10-11      Marched  twenty-two  miles  to  Stony  Creek  and  back 
in  support  of  movement  by  Fifth  Corps  across  Not- 
toway  river  against  Weldon  railroad. 
12     to 

1865 

April         i      In  winter  quarters  before  Petersburg. 

2  Assault  and  capture  of  works  before  Petersburg. 

3  Marched  through  Petersburg. 

4  Started  in  pursuit  of  Lee's  army.     Marched  until  8 
P.  M.,  and  camped. 

5  On  the  march  from  10:30  A.  M.,  till  8  P.  M. 

6  Marched   sixteen  miles.      Heavy  cannonading  ahead. 
Our  regiment  supporting  a  battery. 


41 8     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

June  7  Arrived  at  Burkesville.  Guarding  prisoners,  7,000  or 
8,000  captured  by  Sheridan  the  day  before. 

8  Escorted  prisoners  to  railroad  station. 

9  Surrender  of  Lee  at  Appomattox. 
9-10     Marched  fifteen  miles  to  Farmville. 

1 8     Received  official  announcement  of  the  death  of  Lincoln. 

20  Enroute  from  Farmville  to  Burkesville. 
21-22     On  the  way  back  to  Petersburg. 

23  Marched  through  Petersburg  and  visited  fortifications, 
including  the  Crater  and  our  old  camp. 

24  From  Petersburg  to  City  Point. 
26     Got  on  board  steamer  "Glaucus." 

28  Arrived  at  Alexandria,  where  we  remained  in  camp 
until  mustered  out. 

May       23     Participated  in  Grand  Review  hi  Washington. 

June  8  Escorted  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  to  the  land 
ing.  Our  old  standby  had  been  mustered  out  and  gone 
home! 

July          7     Received  orders  to  be  mustered  out. 
8-15     Busy  making  out  muster  rolls. 

1 6  Mustered  out  of  the  United  States  service;  although 
our  discharges  are  dated  July  I7th,  1865. 

17  Got  aboard  transport  "Wawaset;"  arrived  in  Wash 
ington  an  hour  later;  remained  until  8  P.  M.,  and  took 
cars  for  Baltimore. 

1 8  By  rail  from  Baltimore  to  Harrisburg. 

21  Regiment  disbanded  at  Camp  Curtin. 


Brig.  Genl.  Thomas   Welsh 


Brigadier  General  Thomas  Welsh  419 

BRIGADIER  GENERAL  THOMAS  WELSH 

Brigadier  General  Thomas  Welsh  was  born  in  the  Borough  of 
Columbia,  in  the  County  of  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  in  May,  1824. 
He  began  his  military  career  at  the  commencement  of  the  Mexican 
War  by  enlisting  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  Second  Regiment,  Ken 
tucky  Volunteers,  went  through  the  grades  of  corporal,  sergeant 
and  first  sergeant,  and  for  his  gallantry  at  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista, 
where  he  was  badly  wounded,  was  commissioned  by  President  Polk 
to  be  second  lieutenant  in  the  Eleventh  Infantry,  U.  S.  A.,  in  which 
he  served  with  much  distinction  until  the  end  of  the  war.  At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  he  was  selected  to  command  the  first 
company  raised  in  his  county  and  marched  to  Harrisburg.  Captain 
Welsh's  company  formed  part  of  the  Second  Regiment,  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers;  left  Harrisburg  on  the  iQth  of  April,  1861.  Cap 
tain  Welsh  was  soon  afterward  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
regiment  and  on  the  expiration  of  the  three  months'  term,  the  regi 
ment  being  mustered  out  of  service,  he  was  by  the  Governor  com 
missioned  as  colonel  and  placed  in  command  of  Camp  Curtin  to  or 
ganize  the  regiments  called  from  Pennsylvania  as  her  quota  of  500,- 
ooo  men.  In  October,  1861,  Colonel  Welsh,  in  command  of  the 
Forty-fifth  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  left  Camp  Curtin 
for  Washington. 

(The  above  sketch  was  copied  from  a  paper  in  General  Welsh's  own 
handwriting.) 

Private,  Co.  E,  2nd  Kentucky  Infantry,  June  Qth,  1846;  honor 
ably  discharged  June  10,  1847;  2nd  Lieut.,  nth  Infantry,  December 
30,  1847;  honorably  discharged  Aug.  16,  1848;  Captain,  2nd  Penna. 
Infantry,  April  20,  1861  ;Lt.  Col.,  April  20,  1861 ;  honorably  mus 
tered  out  July  26,  1 86 1 ;  Colonel,  45th  Penna.  Infantry,  Oct.  21, 
1861;  Brigadier  General,  Volunteers,  Nov.  29,  1862;  appointment 
expired  March  4th,  1863;  Brigadier  General,  Volunteers,  March 
13,  1863;  died  Aug.  14,  1863. 
General  Field  Orders  No.  4. 

HdQrs.  Army  of  the  Ohio,  in  the  Field, 

Camp  Nelson,  Ky.,  August  15th,  1863. 

This  department  has  received  with  the  deepest  regret  the  intelligence 
of  the  death  of  Brigadier-General  Welsh,  commanding  First  Division  Ninth 
Army  Corps.  This  sad  event  closes  a  life  marked  by  the  purest  patriotism, 
and  deprives  the  army  of  the  services  and  example  of  a  brave  and  efficient 
officer,  whose  sole  aim  in  his  military  history  was  his  country's  good. 

The  colors  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  will  be  draped  in  mourning  and 
the  officers  at  general  headquarters  and  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  will  wear 
the  customary  badge  for  thirty  days. 

By  command  of  Major-General  Burnside: 

LEWIS  RICHMOND, 

Assistant  Adjutant-General. 


PART  III 


CJje  Fosters 


Roster,  Field  and  Staff  Officers  423 


ROSTER,  FIELD  AND  STAFF  OFFICERS 

BY  MAJOR  R.  C.  CHEESEMAN. 

THOMAS  WELSH,  colonel;  enlisted  July  22,  1861;  promoted  to  brigadier  general 
March  1,  1863;  died  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  August  14,  1863. 

JOHN  I.  CURTIN,  colonel;  enlisted  August  16th,  1861;  promoted  from  captain 
Company  A  to  major  July  30,  1862;  to  lieutenant  colonel  September  4,  1862; 
to  Colonel  April  13,  1863;  brevet  brigadier  general  October  12,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  with  regiment  July  17,  1865;  died  January  1,  1911. 

JAMES  A.  BEAVER,  lieutenant  colonel ;  enlisted  July  22,  1861 ;  promoted  to  colonel 
One  Hundred  and  Forty-eighth  Regiment  P.  V.,  September  4,  1862. 

FRANCIS  M.  HILLS,  lieutenant  colonel ;  enlisted  October  18,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
captain  Company  I  to  lieutenant  colonel  March  1,  1863;  discharged  on  sur- 
,  geon's  certificate  August  — ,  1864 ;  residence,  Cedarvale,  Kans. 

THEODORE  GREGG,  lieutenant  colonel ;  enlisted  October  27,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
captain  Company  F  to  lieutenant  colonel  September  23,  1864;  to  brevet 
colonel  July  30,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  to  February  — , 
1865 ;  mustered  out  with  regiment  July  17,  1865 ;  died  July  — ,  1878. 

JOHN  M.  KILBOURNE,  major;  enlisted  July  27,  1861;  resigned  July  30,  1862; 
died  November  26,  1899. 

EDWARD  A.  KELSEY,  major;  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  promoted  from  captain 
Company  K  to  major  July  1,  1863;  died  June  24,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at 
Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

JOHN  F.  TROUT,  major;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  from  captain  Com 
pany  C  to  major  March  31,  1865;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  to 
March—,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  regiment  July  17,  1865 ;  died  May  23,  1912, 
at  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

CALVIN  S.  BUDDING,  adjutant;  enlisted  September  9,  1861;  promoted  from  sec 
ond  lieutenant  Company  K  to  first  lieutenant  and  adjutant  March  26,  1862; 
mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  March 
12,  1894. 

DECATUR  DICKINSON,  adjutant;  enlisted  September  29,  1861;  promoted  from  ser 
geant  major  to  first  lieutenant  and  adjutant  November  30,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  regiment  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  residence,  Neillsville,  Wis. 

JOHN  McCLURE,  first  lieutenant  and  quartermaster ;  enlisted  October  18,  1861 ; 
dismissed  September  24,  1864;  dead,  date  unknown. 

WILLIAM  H.  PFAHLER;  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  promoted  from  private  Com 
pany  B  to  first  lieutenant  and  quartermaster  November  22,  1864;  mustered 
out  with  regiment  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

GEORGE  L.  POTTER,  surgeon,  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  resigned  July  31,  1862 ; 
dead,  date  unknown. 


424     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

THEODORE  S.  CHRIST,  surgeon ;  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  promoted  from  assist 
ant  surgeon  August  4,  1862 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of 
term  of  service ;  died  February  16,  1910. 

FRANCIS  B.  DAVISON,  surgeon ;  enlisted  August  12,  1864;  promoted  from  assist 
ant  surgeon,  Second  Pennsylvania  Cavalry;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865; 
address,  R.  F.  D.  No.  3,  Nicholson,  Pa. 

CHARLES  STYER,  assistant  surgeon ;  enlisted  August  1,  1862 ;  promoted  to  surgeon 
U.  S.  Volunteers  January  12,  1863;  died  July  6,  1896. 

ROBERT  R.  WIESTLJNG,  assistant  surgeon ;  enlisted  August  13,  1862 ;  resigned  Feb 
ruary  22,  1863;  died  July  14,  1889. 

WINFIELD  S.  YUNDT,  assistant  surgeon;  enlisted  February  23,  1863;  resigned 
May  18,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

JOHN  K.  MAXWELL,  assistant  surgeon;  enlisted  March  3,  1863;  resigned  August 
27,  1864;  died  November  21,  1903. 

C.  EDWARD  IDDINGS,  assistant  surgeon;  enlisted  January  25,  1865;  mustered  out 
with  regiment  July  17,  1865 ;  died  June  4,  1904. 

WM.  J.  GIBSON,  chaplain;  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  resigned  January  1,  1864; 
died  at  Duncansville,  Pa.,  October  5,  1883. 

FREDERICK  A.  CAST,  chaplain;  enlisted  May  17,  1865;  mustered  out  with  regi 
ment  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  No.  505  N.  Lime  Street,  Lancaster,  Pa. 

HARVEY  H.  BENNER,  sergeant  major;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  from 
sergeant  Company  B  to  sergeant  major  November  1,  1861 ;  died  April  26, 
190G,  at  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

WILLIAM  H.  CHILDS,  sergeant  major;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted 
from  sergeant  of  Company  B  to  sergeant  major  January  1,  1864;  killed  in 
action  before  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  22,  1864. 

JOHN  M.  KLINE,  sergeant  major;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  from  pri 
vate  Company  B  to  sergeant  major  June  22,  1864;  to  first  lieutenant  Com 
pany  B  September  7,  1864;  dead,  date  unknown. 

JACOB  W.  MEESE,  sergeant  major;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  from  ser 
geant  Company  A  to  sergeant  major  December  22,  1864;  veteran;  residence, 
No.  503  W.  178th  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

H.  S.  THOMPSON,  sergeant  major;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  from 
sergeant  Company  E  to  sergeant  major  February  8,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
regiment  July  17,  1865 ;  veteran  ;  died  at  Waterford,  Pa.,  March  2,  1908. 

AMOS  MULLEN,  quartermaster  sergeant ;  enlisted  August  9,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
private  Company  K  October  21,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  December  14,  1863,  to 
November  19,  1864;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term 
of  service;  died  December  27,  1905,  at  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

JAMES  H.  MUSSER,  quartermaster  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  18,  1861 ;  promoted 
from  sergeant  Company  C  January  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  regiment 
July  17,  1865;  residence,  No.  213  Walnut  Street,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

JACOB  S.  ROATH,  commissary  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted 
from  sergeant  Company  B  November  1,  1861,  to  first  lieutenant  Company  B 
May  21,  1865;  veteran;  dead,  date  unknown. 


Sergt.  Maj.  Homer  S.  Thompson 
Died  March  2,  1908 


Roster,  Field  and  Staff  Officers  425 

CHARLES  COOK,  commissary  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
corporal  Company  A  May  21,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  regiment  July  17, 
1865 ;  veteran ;  residence,  No.  321  Allen  Avenue,  Lorain,  Ohio. 

WM.  G.  HUNTER,  hospital  steward ;  enlisted  November  9,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
private  Company  A  November  26,  1861 ;  promoted  assistant  surgeon  149th 
Pa.  Vol.  Inf. ;  residence,  Burkesville,  Ky. 

JAMES  A.  MEYERS,  hospital  steward ;  enlisted  August  13,  1862 ;  promoted  from 
private  Company  B  September  22,  1862 ;  discharged  by  special  order  May 

26,  1865;  residence,  Columbia,  Pa. 

H.    D.   DEMING,  hospital   steward;    enlisted    February  25,   1864;    promoted   from 

private  Company  G  May  26,  1865;  mustered  out  with  regiment  July  17,  1865; 

dead,  date  unknown. 
GEORGE  DYER,   principal   musician ;   enlisted    September  2,   1861 ;   promoted   from 

private   Company   B   October   21,    1861 ;    discharged   on    surgeon's    certificate 

December  18,  1862;  dead,  date  unknown. 
ABRAHAM     GIROD,     principal    musician;    enlisted    September    2,    1861;    promoted 

from   musician    Company   B,   March    1,    1865 ;    mustered    out    with    regiment 

July   17,   1865;   veteran;    died  June   18,   1909. 
CHARLES  E.  JACOBS,  hospital  steward ;  dead ;   date  unknown. 

REGIMENTAL  BANR 
THOMAS  D.  GRANT,  leader,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September 

27,  1862;   died  at   Sunbury,   Pa.  -      — ,   1879. 

W.  F.  BLAIR,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862;  died 

at  Lewisburg,  Pa.,  -      — ,  1891. 
SAMUEL  S.   BRIGHT,   enlisted  September   15,   1861 ;   mustered  out   September  27, 

1862 ;  residence,  No.  39  River  Avenue,  Sunbury,  Pa. 
EDWARD  M.  BUCKER,  enlisted  September  15,   1861 ;  mustered  out   September  27, 

1862 ;   died  at  Sunbury,  Pa.,  -      — ,   1895. 
WM.  J.  DONALD,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862 ; 

residence,   No.   4437   Flemming   Street,   Philadelphia,   Pa. 

JACOB  FEIG,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862 ;  resi 
dence,  No.  1001  Madison  Street,  Baltimore,  Md. 
C.  D.  HORTON,  enlisted  September   15,  1861;  mustered  out   September  27,  1862; 

died  at  Sunbury,  Pa.,  -      — ,  1887. 
J.  E.  HORTON,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;   mustered  out   September  27,   1862; 

died  -      — . 
L.  B.  HOWARD,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  mustered  out  September  27,   1862; 

died  in  California,  -      — ,  1903. 
JARID  C.  IRWIN,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862; 

residence,  No.  445  Chestnut  Street,  Sunbury,  Pa. 

JESSE  METZ,  enlisted  September  15,  1861  ;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862 ;  resi 
dence,  Treverton,   Pa. 
JOHN  C.  MILLER,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862; 

died  at   Sunbury,  Pa.,  -      — ,  1896. 
JAMES  W.  PETERMAN,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September  27, 

1862;  died  June  6,  1902. 
CHARLES  D.  SNIVELY,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September  27, 

1862;  residence,  Millersburg,  Pa. 


426     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

J.  F.  STRICKLAND,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862 ; 

dead,  date   unknown. 
HENRY  STULEN,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862 ; 

residence,  Athens,  Pa. 
SAMUEL  VAN  BUSKIRK,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  September  27, 

1862;  died  at  Milton,  Pa.,  1883. 
GEORGE  W.   WALLS,  enlisted   September   15,   1861 ;   mustered  out   September  27, 

1862;  residence,  No.  136  South  Third  Street,  Lewisburg,  Pa. 
GEORGE  W.  WEAVER,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out   September  27, 

1862 ;  died  at  Sunbury,  Pa.,  -     — ,  1892. 
JACOB  WEISER,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  mustered  out  September  27,  1862; 

residence,  No.  505  Chestnut  Street,   Sunbury,  Pa. 
PHILIP   WETMORE,    enlisted    September    15,    1861 ;    mustered   out    September   27, 

1862;  residence,  Van  Eten,  Chemung  County,  N.  Y. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  A 

BY  MAJOR  R.  C.  CHEESEMAN. 
COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

JOHN   I.   CURTIN,  captain;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;   promoted  to   major  July 

30,  1862. 
LAFAYETTE  W.  LORD,  captain ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  from  first 

lieutenant  Company  F  December  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Company  F  March 

24,  1865;  inmate  National  Military  Home,  Kansas. 

WM.  W.  TYSON,  captain;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  promoted  from  first  ser 
geant  to  second  lieutenant  December  2,  1861 ;  to  first  lieutenant  August  17, 
1862 ;  to  captain  September  25,  1862 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864 ;  dead, 
date  unknown. 

ROLAND  C.  CHEESEMAN,  captain;  enlisted  August  20,  1861;  promoted  to  first 
sergeant  September  25,  1862 ;  to  second  lieutenant  March  18,  1863 ;  to  cap 
tain  Company  F  September  29,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Blue  Springs,  Tenn.,  Octo 
ber  10,  1863;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  June  18,  1864;  wounded  and 
prisoner  September  30,  1864;  transferred  from  Company  F  March  24,  1865; 
wounded,  with  loss  of  right  leg,  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865;  brevet 
major  April  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  March 

25,  1910. 

THEODORE  GREGG,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  to  adju 
tant  October  22,  1861. 

WM.  P.  GROVE,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  promoted  from  second 
lieutenant  October  22,  1861;  died  September  22,  1862,  of  wounds  received 
at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862. 

COR.  W.  HARROLD,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  promoted  from  first 
sergeant  to  second  lieutenant;  to  first  lieutenant  September  25,  1862;  re 
signed  January  9,  1863;  dead,  date  unknown. 


Theophilus  Lucas 
Company  A 


Sergt.  A.  J.  Goodfellow 
Company  A 


Roster  of  Company  A  427 


WALDO  C.  VANVAUN,  first  lieutenant ;   enlisted  August   16,   1861 ;   promoted  to 

first  sergeant  September  4,  1862;  to  second  lieutenant  September  25,   1862; 

to   first   lieutenant   March    18,   1863 ;   mustered    out    with   company   July    17, 

1865 ;  veteran ;  dead,  date  unknown. 
JOSEPH  FUNK,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  10,  1861 ;  promoted  from 

first    sergeant    September   28,    1864;    mustered    out    with    company   July    17, 

1865 ;  veteran ;   residence,  Curtin,   Center  Co.,  Pa. 

NON-COM  MISSIONED   OFFICERS. 

JOHN  F.  HOLLAHAN,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  October  20,  1861;  promoted  to 
first  sergeant  March  1,  1863;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  30,  1864; 
mustered  out  October  20,  1864;  died  -  — ,  1865. 

JOHN  FUNK,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  to  first  ser 
geant  October  10,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran; 
dead,  date  unknown. 

ANDREW  J.  GOODFELI/>W,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  wounded  at  Cold 
Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  promoted  to  sergeant  December  1,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  inmate  of  Soldiers'  Home, 
Los  Angeles,  California. 

THOMAS  BATHURST,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
March  10,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  died 
January  1,  1893. 

JOHN  A.  DALEY,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor 
June  3,  1864;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  promoted 
to  sergeant  October  1,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865; 
died  January  22,  1911. 

MATTHEW  RIDDLE,  sergeant;  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal 
January  1,  1865;  to  sergeant  June  27,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  March  8,  1900. 

JACOB  W.  MEESE,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  from  corporal 
to  sergeant  March  25,  1864;  to  sergeant  major  December  22,  1864;  residence, 
No.  505  184th  Street,  New  York. 

GEORGE  YOUNG,  sergeant ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  Sep 
tember  18,  1862;  transferred  to  Sixth  U.  S.  Cavalry  October  22,  1862;  ad 
dress,  Jersey  Shore,  Pa. 

THEOPHILUS  LUCAS,  sergeant ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant 
January  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  resi 
dence,  No.  1017  Crawford  Street,  Greeley,  Colo. 

THOMAS  CROFT,  corporal;  enlisted  March  4,  1862;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  address,  Berwick,  Pa. 

GEO.  W.  COCHLER,  corporal;  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  No.  570  S.  Third  Street,  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah. 

THEODORE  SHIRK,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Antietam, 
September  17,  1862;  wounded  at  Poplar  Spring  Church,  Va.,  September  30, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  residence, 
Curwensville,  Pa. 

THEO.  G.  LEATHERS,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  veteran ;  died  May  5,  1897. 


428     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

GEORGE  I.  FERREE,  corporal;  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  prisoner  from  September 

30,  1864,  to  March  9,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,   1865;  ad 
dress,  Mackeyville,  Center   Co.,  Pa. 
JACOB  KAUP,  corporal;  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30, 

1864,  to  May  3,   1865 ;   mustered  out  with   company  July  17,  1865 ;  address, 

Tyrone,  Pa. 
DAVID  WILLIAMS,  corporal;   enlisted  February  12,   1864;  prisoner  from  July  30 

to  August  11,   1864;  mustered  out   with  company  July  17,   1865;   residence, 

Philipsburg,   Center    Co.,    Pa. 
PHILIP   STOUT,  corporal;  enlisted  February  25,   1864;  prisoner  from    September 

30,  1864,  to  April  25,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  dead, 

date   unknown. 
LEWIS  C.   BULLOCK,  corporal ;   enlisted  August   16,    1861 ;  mustered  out  October 

20,  1864;   residence,  Julian,   Center  Co.,   Pa. 
FRANK   HOGAN,  corporal ;   enlisted   August   16,    1861 ;   mustered   out   October  20, 

1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  residence,  Hutchinson,  Kans. 
GEORGE  W.  LONG,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Blue  Springs, 

Tenn.,  October  10,  1863;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  October  4,  1864; 

died    November   15,   1900. 
DANIEL  HANNAN,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  16,   1861 ;   discharged  on  surgeon's 

certificate  July  27,   1864. 
GEORGE  W.   EMINHIZER,  corporal;   enlisted  August  15,   1862;   wounded  at   Blue 

Springs,  Tenn.,  October  10,  1863 ;  discharged  by  general  order  June  7,  1865 ; 

residence,  Belsano,  Pa. 
CHARLES   COOK,   corporal ;   enlisted   August    16,    1861 ;    promoted    to   commissary 

sergeant  May  21,  1865;  veteran;  residence,   No.  321  Allen  Avenue,  Lorain, 

Ohio. 
ANDREW  P.  GROVE,  corporal;  enlisted  August  16,   1865;  captured;  died  at  An- 

dersonville,  November  1,  1864. 
JOHN    H.   CROCK,    corporal ;    enlisted    August    16,    1861 ;    captured    December    18, 

1863;  died  in  Andersonville,  Ga.,  August  1,  1864;  grave  4512;  veteran. 
ABRAHAM  EMINHIZER,  corporal ;  enlisted   August  16,  1861 ;   died  June   11,  1864, 

of  wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864 ;  buried  in  National 

Cemetery,    Arlington;   veteran. 
JOHN  A.   WHITEMAN,  musician;   enlisted   August   16,   1861;    mustered   out   with 

company  July  17,  1865;   veteran;  address,   Milesbnrg,   Pa. 
FALKIN   B.  WILLIAMS,   musician;   enlisted   August    16,   1865;    wounded   at   An- 

tietam  September  17,    1862;    wounded   at   Blue   Springs,   Tenn.,   October   10, 

1863;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  June  17,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  veteran ;  died  September  24,  1880. 

PRIVATES. 

ARNOT,  ANDREW  J.,  enlisted  January  10,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,   1865 ;   address,   Cooston,   Ore. 
BAILEY,  DAVID  M.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Sixth  U.  S.  Cavalry 

November  1,  1864. 
BAKER,  CHAS.  J.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  September  27,  1862,  of  wounds 

received  at  Antietam  September  17,  1862. 


Roster  of  Company  A  429 


BANTILBORG,   IRWIN  G.,   enlisted   August  16,   1861;   transferred   to  Veteran   Re- 

'  serve   Corps,  date  unknown. 

BARNHART,  JAMES  M.,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  died  August  23,  1864. 
BARTO,  DAVID  H.,  drafted,  enrolled  October  3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 

July   17,  1865;   dead,  date  unknown. 
BAUGHMAN,    JOHN,    substitute,    enrolled    January    5,    1865;    mustered  *out    with 

company  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 
BECK,   DAVID  M.,   enlisted   August  16,   1861 ;   mustered   out   with   company  July 

17,   1865;  veteran. 

BLACK,  CHARLES,  enlisted  March  3,  1864 ;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out. 
BODLE,  JAMES,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  April  10,  1864,  at  Annapolis,  Md. ; 

veteran. 
BOMBAUGH,    SYLVESTER,   enlisted   March   28,    1864;   killed   at   Cold   Harbor,    Va., 

June  8,  1864. 
BOONE,  JAMES,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  died  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,   September 

12,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at   Battle  of  Wilderness  May  6,   1864. 
BOTORFF,   BENJ.    B.,   enlisted    February   21,    1864;    prisoner   from    September    30, 

1864,   to  March  9,   1865;   mustered   out   with   company  July   17,   1865;    died 

May  19,  1910. 
BOWMESTER,    AUGUST,    substitute,    enrolled    November    30,    1864 ;    mustered    out 

with  company  July  17,  1865. 
BOYER,  ABRAM,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  captured  September  30,  1864 ;  died  at 

Salisbury,   N.   C,  November   1,   1864 ;  veteran. 
BOYER,  JACOB,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  April 

25,  1862 ;  residence,  Sandy  Valley,  Jefferson  Co.,   Pa. 

BRATTON,  CHARLES,  substitute,  enrolled  January  4,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

BREWER,  GREENE,  enlisted  February  21,  1864;  died  June  11,  1864,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  buried  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  Grave 
2088. 

BRITTON,  DANIEL,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  March  17,  1863;  died  June  27,  1907. 

BROWN,  EDWARD,  substitute,  enrolled  November  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

BULLOCK,  MOSES,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  deserted  September  12,  1862. 

CAMPBELL,  JACOB,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  Sec.  26,  Lot 
C,  Grave  301. 

CAMPBELL,  THOMAS,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  December  3,  1862;  died  November  23,  1896. 

CLARKE,  HENRY,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at 
Salisbury,  N.  C.,  March  16,  1865;  burial  record  December  29,  1864. 

CLINE,  JOSEPH  J.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Sixth  U.  S.  Cavalry, 
date  unknown. 

COCHLER,  LAFAYETTE,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  September  16,  1894. 

COLDERWOOD,  WM.,  enlisted  March  23,  1864;  wounded  at  North  Anna,  Va.,  May 

26,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 


430     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

CONLEY,  JESSE,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps, 
October  11,  1863. 

COYLE,  PORTER,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  captured  December  18,  1863;  died  at 
Andersonville,  Ga.,  November  4,  1864 ;  burial  record  April  9,  1864 ;  Grave 
445. 

COSSET,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  May  30,  1865;  insane. 

CRESSWELL,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  January  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  inmate  National  Home,  Virginia. 

CROCK,  AARON,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  veteran. 

CROCK,  EMANUEL,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  died  at  Beverly,  N.  J.,  October  3, 
1864 ;  veteran. 

CURTIS,  PATRICK,  substitute,  enrolled  November  26,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

DAUGHENBAUGH,  R.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  February  14,  1863;  reenlisted  March  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

DAUGHENBAUGH,  W.,  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  deserted  June  3,  1865. 

DEHASS,  JAMES,  enlisted  March  13,  1862 ;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilderness,  May 
6,  1864;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out;  residence,  Beech  Creek,  Clinton 
Co,  Pa. 

DEHASS,  THOMAS,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
March  1,  1863;  died  March  27,  1893. 

DEWALT,  WILLIAM  H.,  substitute,  enrolled  January  5,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  address,  Vermillion,  Kans. 

DICKEL,  JACOB,  substitute,  enrolled  December  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  address,  225  N.  Capitol  Street,  Washington.  D.  C. 

DOUGHERTY,  HUGH,  substitute,  enrolled  November  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  died  August  27,  1871. 

DOUGLAS,  DUCEY,  drafted  October  3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  February  3,  1910. 

DREIBELBIS,  PETER,  enlisted  March  12,  1862;  transferred  to  Sixth  U.  S.  Cavalry 
October  27,  1862. 

DREIBELBIS,  STEPHEN,  enlisted  March  1,  1862;  died,  date  unknown,  of  wounds 
received  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862. 

DUFFEY,  GEORGE,  substitute,  enrolled  January  5,  1865;  deserted  January  14,  1865. 

DUNLAP,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  April  2,  1864;  captured;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C, 
November  25,  1864. 

ECKLEY,  WILLJAM  L.,  enlisted  September  10,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  date  unknown. 

ETIAN,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  died  at  Fort  Seward,  S.  C., 
December  14,  1861. 

EVY,  JEREMIAH,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  died  at  Crab  Orchard,  Ky.,  Novem 
ber  8,  1863. 

FALTY,  JACOB,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  veteran. 


Roster  of  Company  A  431 


FERREE,  MICHAEL,  substitute,  enrolled  December  1,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

FLACK,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  25,  1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term  of  service;  residence,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

FRAVEL,  JEREMIAH,  enlisted  September  10,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  February  16,  1863;  died  April  24,  1903. 

FUNK,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  September  10,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  April  22,  1862 ;  died  July  22,  1899. 

FUNK,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  10,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862. 

GILL,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

GLENN,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862. 

GLENN,  MARTIN  L.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  killed  at  Battle  of  Wilderness, 
May  6,  1864. 

GUMMO,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  dis 
charged  on  surgeon's  certificate  June  1,  1865;  address,  R.  F.  D.,  Beech 
Creek,  Pa. 

HAINES,  IRWIN,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  April  23,  1886. 

HAINES,  JAMES  P.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

HAINES,  JOHN,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  20,  1862. 

HAINES,  RUDOLF,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
May  18,  1865;  veteran;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HARKINS,  GEORGE  W.,  substitute,  enrolled  January  14,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

HARRIS,  JOHN  H.,  drafted  December  9,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865. 

HARTSOCK,  WILLIAM  A.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  November  21,  1862 ;  reenlisted  February  28,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  Julian,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

HENDERSHOT,  DAVID,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  at  Milldale,  Miss.,  July  31, 
1863. 

HEVERLY,  JOHN,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term  of  service ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HIPE,  GEORGE,  drafted  January  3,  1865;  died  January  31,  1865. 

HOLTER,  BENJ.  R,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
October  11,  1863;  died  June  24,  1898. 

HOOVER,  ISRAEL,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Antietam  September  17, 
1862;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  address,  Miles- 
burg,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

HOOVER,  LORENZO  D.,  drafted  November  26,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  September  4,  1906. 

HOWARD,  ROBERT  G.,  substitute,  enrolled  January  3,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  West  Lake,  La. 


43- 


Fortv-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


HUBER,  NOAH  N.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Sixth  U.  S.  Cavalry 
October  27,  1862;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HUNTER,  GEORGE  T.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term  of  service ;  address,  No.  418  Cherry  Street,  Elkart,  Ind. 

ISENHART,  GODFREY,  substitute,  enrolled  November  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  927  S.  Eighth  Street,  Camden,  N.  J. 

JOHNSON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  killed  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  30, 
1864 ;  veteran. 

KEISINGER,  JACOB  G.,  enlisted  March  23,  1864 ;  killed  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  June 
18,  1864. 

KNOLL,  DISCORDUS,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  murdered  by  a  citizen  at  New 
London,  Ky.,  November  1,  1863. 

KNOLL,  IRA  C,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
7,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  February  25,  1865;  resi 
dence,  Marietta,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa. 

KREITNER,  LEWIS,  substitute,  enrolled  December  13,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

LEATHERS,  THEODORE,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  June  5,  1897. 

LEATHERS,  WILLIAM  T.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Sixth  U.  S. 
Cavalry  November  1,  1864;  died  May  8,  1901. 

LONG,  JAMES  R.,  enlisted  March  19,  1864;  captured  July  30,  1864;  died  at  Dan 
ville,  Va.,  March  8,  1865. 

LONG,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  24,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
September  24,  1862. 

LONG,  THOMAS,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  June  30,  1865;  residence  Bell- 
wood,  Pa. 

LUCAS,  JAMES,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  De 
cember  23,  1862 ;  died  September  5,  1901. 

LUCAS,  JOHN  M.,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  C.  H., 
Va.,  May  12,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  date  unknown; 
address,  R.  F.  D.  No.  4,  New  Boston,  Texas. 

LYNCH,  EDWARD,  substitute,  enlisted  December  22,  1864 ;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate  July  10,  1865 ;  residence,  Ladsburg,  Bradford  Co.,  Pa. 

LYONS,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  March  6,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  April  20,  1910. 

MCALLEN,  ROBERT,  substitute,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

McCoY,  WILLIAM  A.,  substitute,  enlisted  December  17,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

McELHOE,  CALVIN,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 
June  3,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  July  12,  1865;  residence, 
Reynolds,  White  Co.,  Ind. 

MCELHOE,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  April  22,  1862. 

McKiRK,  JOHN  T.,  substitute,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate  July  12,  1865. 


Roster  of  Company  A  433 


McMuLLEN,  WILLIAM  T.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  residence,  Clifton  Springs,  N.  Y. 

McNALLY,  JAMES,  enlisted  November  24,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

MALLIGAN,  JAMES,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps  October  11,  1863;  dead,  date  unknown. 

MARTIN,  DANIEL,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  May  10,  1864. 

MARTIN,  JOHN,  substitute,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  November  2,  1899. 

MEHAFFEY,  WILLIAM  P.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Re 
serve  Corps  October  11,  1863;  residence,  No.  215  Pine  Street,  Clearfield,  Pa. 

MILLER,  CHARLES,  (alias  John  Rymer),  substitute,  enlisted  December  19,  1864; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Everett,  Mass. 

MILLER,  JACOB,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  Sep 
tember  14,  1862. 

MILLER,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  17,  1862;  transferred  to  Sixth  U.  S.  Cavalry 
October  27,  1863. 

MONTGOMERY,  JAMES,  substitute,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

MOORE,  GEORGE,  enlisted  March  13,  1862;  killed  at  North  Anna,  Va.,  May  27, 
1864;  veteran. 

MOORE,  JOHN,  enlisted  March  13,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  June 

I,  1863;   dead,   date  unknown. 

MORRELL,  CHARLES  T.,  enlisted  March  3,  1864 ;  captured  September  30,  1864 ;  dis 
charged  by  general  order  May  27,  1865;  residence,  No.  2134  A  68tfi  Street, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

MULLEN,  THOMAS,  substitute,  enrolled  January  16,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

MURRAY,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  24,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

MUSSER,  BENJAMIN  R,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  deserted  April  4,  1863. 

NEFF,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30, 
1864,  to  April  25,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resi 
dence,  Howard,  Pa. 

NICHOLS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  April  2,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at 
Annapolis,  Md.,  May  2,  1865. 

NOTT,  SIMON  L.,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

PARIENT,  PHILIP,  enlisted  March  3,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  drowned 
in  Potomac  River  April  23,  1865. 

PATTERSON,  RICHARD,  substitute,  enrolled  December  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

PATTERSON,  THOMAS,  drafted  July  27,  1863;  absent,  in  arrest  for  desertion,  at 
muster  out. 

PEACE,  JARIUS,  enlisted  February  11,   1864;   wounded  at   Petersburg,   Va.,  June 

II,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  May  7,   1865. 

PEACH,  PETER,  drafted  November  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 


434     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

PEALING,  LEWIS,  enlisted  April  2,  1864;   wounded  and  prisoner   September  30, 

1864 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  April  15,  1865. 
PEOPLES,  WILLIAM  W.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 

at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  address,  Lumber  City,  Pa. 
PETLER,  GEORGE,  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  to 

May  3,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

PIFER,  GEORGE  D.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;   transferred  to  Company  I,  Fifty- 
third  Regiment,  Pa.  Vols.,  October  16,  1861. 
REED,   THOMAS   H.,    drafted    February    18,    1864;    discharged   by  general    order 

June  7,  1865. 
REEDER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  of  wounds  received  at  South 

Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862. 
REYNOLDS,  LEVI,  drafted  September  17,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order  June 

7,  1865 ;  died  April  4,  1887. 
RILEY,  JOHN,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate ;  dead, 

date  unknown. 

ROBINSON,  THOMAS,  enlisted  August  16,   1861 ;   discharged  on  surgeon's   certifi 
cate  October  27,  1862. 
ROSSMAN,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865 ;  veteran ;  residence,  Nittany,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 
RUPERT,  KLINE,   enlisted  February  20,   1864;   mustered  out  with   company  July 

17,  1865. 
RYAN,  EDWARD,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;   transferred  to  Sixth  U.   S.  Cavalry 

October  27,  1862;  residence,  110  W.  Ogden  Street,  Buffalo,  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y. 
RYAN,  THOMAS,  substitute,  enrolled  December  21,  1864;  deserted  April  3,  1865. 
SAIRE,  ANDREW  C,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 

expiration  of  term  of  service. 
SHAWLEY,  DAVID  H.,  enlisted  August  15,  1862 ;  died  February  20,  1865 ;  buried  at 

Alexandria,  Va.,  grave  3016. 
SHRANGER,  G.  B.,  drafted  October  4,  1864;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  March 

13,  1865;  absent  at  muster  out;  died  March  15,  1906. 

SIMON,   SALI,  substitute,  enlisted   November  30,   1864 ;   mustered  out  with   com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  died  November  10,  1889. 
SLIGHT,  JACOB,  substitute,  enlisted  December  1,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,  1865. 
SMITH,  AUGUSTUS  V.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,   1864, 

at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  residence,  Nelson,  Nebr. 
STONE,  JOSEPH  G.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

November  14,  1861. 
STRICKLAND,  Ross,  enlisted  May  31,  1864;  captured  July  30,  1864;  died  May  3, 

1865,  at  Baltimore,  Md. 
STRUNK,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 

September  14,  1862. 
TATE,  WESLEY  V.,  enlisted  February  17,  1864;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilderness 

May  6,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  No.  2928 

Walnut  Avenue,  Altoona,  Pa. 
TAYLOR,  THOMAS,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Antietam  September  17, 

1862 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate ;  residence,  Milesburg,  Pa. 


Captain  H.  A.  Haines 
Company  B 


Roster  of  Company  B  435 

TAYLOR,  WILLJAM  W.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  December  21,  1862 ;  residence,  Wessington  Springs,  S.  Dak. 

TEMPLE,  CHARLES,  drafted  November  25,  1864 ;  discharged  by  general  order 
June  10,  1865. 

VAN  TILBURY,  IRVJN,  date  of  enlistment  unknown ;  residence,  605  Simonton  Street, 
Elkhart,  Ind. 

WALKER,  M.  A.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  January  10,  1863. 

WALKER,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  of  wounds  received  at  South 
Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862. 

WATSON,  LEVI  H.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  21,  1862 ;  died  July  22,  1895. 

WHEELER,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  veteran;  died  November  27,  1889. 

WHITE,  JOHN  B.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate; 
reenlisted  February  12,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

WHITEMAN,  Ross,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  prisoner  from  November  18,  1863, 
to  April  17,  1864;  mustered  out  November  1,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term 
of  service;  died  June  27,  1902. 

WILLIAMS,  JAMES  P.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  died  July  8,  1864. 

WILLIAMS,  JOHN,  enlisted  March  3,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
June  30,  1865;  residence,  1957  Market  Street,  Pottsville,  Pa. 

WILLIAMS,  LYONS,  enlisted  May  6,  1865 ;  not  on  muster  out  roll. 

WILLJAMS,  MESHACK,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

WILLIAMS,  SELAH,  substitute,  enlisted  September  2,  1864;  discharged  by  gen 
eral  order  June  11,  1865;  died  September  30,  1885. 

WILLIAMS,  THOMAS,  enlisted  November  7,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  May  16,  1865. 

WILSON,  JOHN  A.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  deserted  October  11,  1861. 

YARNELL,  REUBEN,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  died  of  wounds  received  at  South 
Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862. 

YOUNG,  GEORGE  W.,  2d,  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain, 
Md.,  September  14,  1862;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865; 
veteran;  residence,  Nittany,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  B 

Recruited  in  Lancaster  County. 
[COMPILED  AND  ARRANGED  BY  LIEUT.  M.  S.  MULLIN  AND  A.  D.  ALBERT.] 

COMMISSIONED    OFFICERS. 
HENRY  A.  HAINES,  captain ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  resigned  March  1,  1863 ; 

died  April  7,  1896. 

JOHN  B.  DIBELER,  captain ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  first  ser 
geant  September  30,  1862;  to  first  lieutenant  March  1,  1863;  to  captain  July 
1,  1863;  resigned  October  20,  1864;  resides  at  7223  Saybrooke  Avenue, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 


436     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

JOHN  M.  KLINE,  captain;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  from  second  to 
first  lieutenant  August  1,  1862;  resigned  March  2,  1863;  reenlisted  March 
1864;  promoted  to  sergeant  major  June  22,  1864;  to  first  lieutenant  Septem 
ber  7,  1864 ;  to  captain  May  21,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865. 

WILLIAM  L.  RAPHIL,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  resigned  August 
1,  1862;  died  July  30,  1904. 

CYRUS  BRUNER,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  October  1,  1862 ;  promoted  from  second 
to  first  lieutenant  July  1,  1863;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May,  1864;  re 
signed  August  8,  1864;  died  November  20,  1902. 

JACOB  S.  ROATH,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
commissary  sergeant  to  first  lieutenant  May  21,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  died  November  29,  1878. 

JOHN  F.  TROUT,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  sec 
ond  lieutenant  August  1,  1862;  transferred  to  Company  H  August  1,  1862. 

HARVEY  H.  BENNER,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted 
from  sergeant  major  to  second  Heutenant  July  7,  1863;  discharged  December 
5,  1864,  for  wounds  received  at  Petersburg  June  17,  1864 ;  died  April  21,  1906. 

MOSES  S.  MULLIN,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to 
sergeant  December  1,  1861 ;  to  second  lieutenant  January  1,  1865 ;  mustered 
out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  1168  Woodward  Avenue,  To- 
peka,  Kansas. 

NON-COM  MISSIONED    OFFICERS. 

ROBERT  CARROLL,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  February  24,  1862;  promoted  to  first 
sergeant  September  20,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died 
May  8,  1899. 

JOHN  M.  HIPPLE,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  first 
sergeant  March  10,  1863;  killed  at  Spottsylvania  Court  House  May  18,  1864. 

HENRY  C.  STEPHENS,  sergeant;  enlisted  October  14,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
March  10,  1863;  captured  September  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

BENNEVILLE  KEMMERY,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  prisoner  from  Sep 
tember  30,  1864,  to  April,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865  j 
died  February  11,  1904. 

HENRY  REIFF,  sergeant;  enlisted  October  14,  1861;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor 
June  3,  1864;  promoted  to  sergeant  January  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Oakland,  Ky. 

GEORGE  B.  HAINES,  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  1,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  September 
30,  1864,  to  April,  1865:  promoted  from  corporal  to  sergeant  May  1,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Mt.  Alton,  McKean 
Co,  Pa. 

WILLIAM  H.  CHILDS,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  ser 
geant  April  7,  1863;  to  sergeant  major  January  1,  1864. 

WILLIAM  T.  ARMSTRONG,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  12,  1862;  died  July  15,  1864, 
of  wounds  received  at  Petersburg  June  18,  1864. 

AUSTIN  GERMAN,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
May  20,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  December  24,  1864;  re 
sides  at  Bronson,  Kansas. 


Lieut.  M.  S.  Mullin 

1865 

Co.  B 


Lieut.  M.  S.  Mullin 
1908 
Co.  B 


William  Saunders 
Co.  K 


Samuel  B.   Garrigues 
Co.  B 


Roster  of  Company  B  437 

J.  D.  FELTENBERGER,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
May  18,  1864;  discharged  June  30,  1865,  for  wounds  received  at  Cold  Har 
bor  June  3,  1864. 

CHRISTIAN  SHAUB,  corporal,  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  captured  September  30, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Marietta,  Lan 
caster  Co.,  Pa. 

JOHN  KINSEY,  corporal;  enlisted  January  1,  1862;  wounded  at  Poplar  Springs 
Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865; 
date  of  death  unknown. 

AMOS  B.  MACHEN,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  18,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  September  21,  1898. 

JOSEPH  JUDY,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor 
June  3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  September 
18,  1904. 

JOHN  L.  HORST,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
January  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Bis- 
mark,  Lebanon  Co.,  Pa. 

FRANCIS  J.  KELLER,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  15,  1864 ;  wounded  and  cap 
tured  at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  May  4,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at 
1537  North  Sixth  Street,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

WILLIAM  SWAN,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  14,  1861 ;  captured  September  30, 
1864;  promoted  to  corporal  May  4,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  inmate  National  Soldiers'  Home,  Va. 

JOSEPH  BELL,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  27,  1861 ;  captured  July  30,  1864 ;  pro 
moted  to  corporal  January  7,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  resides  at  Orting,  Wash. 

GEORGE  SHEETS,  corporal;  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  wounded  at  Petersburg, 
July  30.  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  June  7,  1865;  resides  at 
Columbia,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa. 

JOHN  A.  ARMSTRONG,  corporal;  enlisted  March  11,  1864;  killed  at  Petersburg 
August  18,  1864. 

SAMUEL  M.  HINKLE,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  15,  1862 ;  died  July  1,  1864,  of 
wounds  received  at  Petersburg,  June  17,  1864. 

SAMUEL  L.  EPLER,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  taken  prisoner  May  6, 
1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  February  6,  1865. 

JAMES  WITAKER,  musician ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  November  23,  1900. 

ABRAM  GIROD,  musician ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  principal  musi 
cian  March  1,  1865;  died  June  18,  1909. 

PRIVATES. 

ARNOLD,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  April  3, 
1864. 

BOELL,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  not  on  muster  out  roll ;  died  Feb 
ruary  18,  1899. 

BODEN,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
March  1,  1863;  died  August  26,  1893. 


438     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

BOWMAN,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term. 

BIERBOWER,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate;  resides  at  Bainbridge,  Pa. 

BYKE,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  August  20,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  F  Septem 
ber  1,  1862. 

BROWN,  HARVEY,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  1,  1862. 

BOWER,  FREDERICK,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  December  14,  1862. 

BURKHEISER,  HENRY,  enlisted  August  11,  1862;  transferred  to  Company  F  April 
18,  1864;  resides  at  535  E.  Prospect  Street,  York,  Pa. 

BRENEMAN,  JACOB  S.,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  June  7,  1865;  resides  at  840  North  25th  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

BOSTICK,  JOSEPH  B.,  enlisted  August  14,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  May  20,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BAIGHT,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  March  10,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  resides  at  Columbia,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa. 

BELL,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Petersburg  June  19,  1864; 
absent  in  hospital  at  muster  out. 

BROWN,  JOSHUA  L.,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  captured  at  Poplar  Springs 
Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  February  16, 
1865. 

BAIR,  JOHN  A.,  enlisted  February  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865. 

BONGE,  FREDERICK  D.,  enlisted  August  22,  1864 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  June  7,  1865 ;  resides  at  34  Apple  Street,  Freeport,  111. 

BROWN,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  31,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

BARTHOLOW,  G.  F.,  drafted  July  5,  1864;  died  May  31,  1865;  buried  at  Alex 
andria,  Va.,  Grave  3183. 

Cox,  ABRAHAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F.  Septem 
ber  1,  1862. 

CONWAY,  HUGH,  enlisted  August  20,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  September 
1,  1862. 

CARROLL,  ALONZO,  enlisted  October  20,  1861;  died  December  30,  1861. 

CLEPPER,  BENTON  S.,  enlisted  August  9,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
May  15,  1865 ;  died  December  20,  1909. 

COWDEN,  MATTHEW  A.,  enlisted  August  14,  1862;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May, 
1864;  discharged  July  5,  1865;  died  December  30,  1907. 

CARTER,  WILLIAM  L.,  enlisted  September  2,  1862;  deserted  August  17,  1863. 

CAMPBELL,  CHARLES,  enlisted  June  2,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  January  5,  1865. 

DUCK,  AMOS,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
March  31,  1862. 

DRUMMOND,  ROBERT,  enlisted  August  20,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  30,  1861. 

DIXON,  SAMUEL  T.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  October  9,  1862;  date  of  death  unknown. 


Roster  of  Company  B  439 

DUNLEVY,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  August  1,  1862;  discharged  by  general  order  June 
7,  1865;  died  April  23,  1891. 

DYER,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  principal  musician  Octo 
ber  21,  1861. 

DERRICK,  ELI  T.,  enlisted  August  10,  1862 ;  wounded  in  action  June  6,  1864 ;  dis 
charged  by  general  order  June  7,  1865 ;  died  July  31,  1884. 

DECKER,  JACOB,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  captured  December  14,  1863;  died  at 
Andersonville  August  14,  1864;  Grave  5664. 

DAIRS,  WESLEY,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  discharged  by  general  order  June  7, 
1865. 

DERRICK,  GEORGE,  enlisted  August  18,  1862 ;  wounded  at  Petersburg  July  30,  1864 ; 
died  August  3,  1864. 

DAUB,  DAVID,  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  captured  July  30,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Burgoon,  Ohio. 

DOUGHERTY,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

DUCK,  WASHINGTON,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  1895. 

DUNCAN,  ENOS,  enlisted  September  17,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  inmate  Soldiers'  Home,  Erie,  Pa. 

DENTON,  CHARLES  H.  enlisted  December  24,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  June  20, 
1865. 

DUNN,  EDWARD,  enlisted  March  10,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865. 

EPLER,  JOHN  G.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  captured  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

EITTLER,  FREDERICK,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  1,  1862. 

EPLER,  CHRISTIAN  M.,  enlisted  October  21,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  January  23,  1863. 

ESHELMAN,  JACOB  B.,  enlisted  August  29,  1862;  captured  September  30,  1864; 
died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  December  24,  1864. 

ESHELMAN,  BENJAMIN,  enlisted  September  1,  1862 ;  discharged  by  general  order, 
June  7,  1865;  resides  at  Columbia,  Pa. 

EVERHART,  DANIEL,  enlisted  August  22,  1864 ;  captured  September  30,  1864 ;  dis 
charged  by  general  order  June  7,  1865;  resides  at  1011  E.  Market  Street, 
York,  Pa. 

ESHELMAN,  MARTIN,  enlisted  August  9,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died 
at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  January  11,  1865. 

EICHENBERGER,  L.,  enlisted  September  13,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

FARNSWORTH,  C.  W.,  enlisted  February  23,  1862;  deserted  July  22,  1862. 

FINLEY,  JAMES,  enlisted  July  30,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  De 
cember  4,  1862. 

FELIX,  HENRY,  enlisted  August  15,  1862;  captured  July  30,  1864;  discharged  by 
general  order  June  7,  1865. 

FOWL,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  December  30,  1864 ;  substitute ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  June  16,  1865;  died  May  3,  1901. 


440     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

GRAFFIUS,  ABRAHAM,  enlisted  August  20,  1861 ;  discharged  November  26,  1861,  to 
receive  promotion  as  second  lietuenant  U.  S.  A. 

GALBRAITH,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps. 

GRIFFIS,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Septem 
ber  1,  1862. 

GRIFFITH,  HENRY  P.,  enlisted  August  11,  1862;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died 
at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  February  6,  1865. 

GARRIGUES,  SAMUEL  B.,  enlisted  August  13,  1862;  wounded  at  Jackson,  Miss., 
July  11,  1863;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  1863;  died  May  12,  1902. 

GIVEN,  NATHANIEL,  enlisted  August  18,  1862 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  February  7,  1863;  resides  at  Harrisbnrg,  Pa. 

GILES,  HENRY,  drafted  July  9,  1863;  deserted;  absent  in  arrest  at  muster  out; 
date  of  death  unknown. 

GARRETT,  WILLIAM  A.,  enlisted  February  15,  1864;  died  October  25,  1864,  of 
wounds  received  at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864 ;  buried 
in  U.  S.  General  Hospital  Cemetery,  Annapolis,  Md. 

GARRETH,  JAMES  A.,  enlisted  February  15,  1864;  deserted  May  18,  1864;  re 
turned  September  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  re 
sides  at  3813  Sharpe  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

GARNER,  ALBERT  T.,  alias  Lewis  Goomer,  enlisted  January  26,  1865 ;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  203  Fannin  Street,  Beaumont,  Texas. 

GOODWIN,  CHARLES,  enlisted  January  6,  1865;  substitute;  died  June  23,  1865; 
buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Arlington,  Va. 

HENDERSON,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  13,  1861 ;  wounded  in  action  September 
30,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  June  14,  1865;  died  March 
18,  1896. 

HOUSEL,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  January  21,  1865,  for 
wounds  received  in  action. 

HINTON,  JAMES,  enlisted  August  20,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F,  September 
1,  1862;  died  at  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

HOWARD,  DANIEL,  enlisted  October  2,   1861;  killed  at  Petersburg  July  18,   1864. 

HAGMAN,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  captured  December  14,  1863;  died 
July  28,  1864,  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  Grave  4162. 

HERSHEY,  WASHINGTON  L.,  enlisted  September  1,  1862 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor 
June  3,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order  June  7,  1865;  resides  at  Mari 
etta.  Pa. 

HALL,  ROBERT,  enlisted  August  15,  1862;  discharged  by  general  order  June  7, 
1865;  resides  at  343  Walnut  Street,  Columbia,  Pa. 

HAMMAKER,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  12,  1862;  died  May  18,  1864,  of  wounds 
received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

HOPKINS,  ANDREW  J.,  enlisted  September  6,  1862;  transferred  to  Company  F 
April  3,  1864. 

HART,  LEVI,  enlisted  February  15,  1864;  deserted  May  18,  1864. 

HILSCHER,  HENRY  L.,  enlisted  November  28,  1863;  killed  at  Spottsylvania  C. 
H.,  May.  12,  1864. 

HILSCHER,  FREDERICK,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  June 
3,  1864. 


Wash  L.  Hershey 
Company  B 


Roster  of  Company  B  441 

HAWTHORN,  ALFRED  L.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  deserted  May  18,   1864. 

HAWTHORN,  ROBERT  L.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  deserted  May  18,  1864. 

HENRY,  JAMES,  enlisted  March  10,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  September  18,  1904. 

HARRINGTON,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  August  24,  1864 ;  deserted  November  12,  1864 ;  re 
turned  December  10,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

ICKOFF,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  October  1,   1861 ;   discharged  on  surgeon's   certificate. 

KEIFFER,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  15,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  Aug.  1,  1911. 

KAUTZ,  CHRISTIAN,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  October  21,  1903. 

KLINE,  JOHN  M.,  enlisted  August  16,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant  major  June 
22,  1864. 

LOSSER,  FRANKLIN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  July  7,  1862. 

LAVERDY,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  captured  September  30,  1864; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

LESLIE,  DANIEL,  enlisted  September  13,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term. 

LONG,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  F,  September 
1,  1862. 

LIGHTNER,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  November  25,  1862;  died  April  7,  1900. 

LONG,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  August  18,  1862;  transferred  to  Company  F  April  3, 
1864. 

LOCKARD,  JAMES,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  captured  December  24,  1863;  died 
at  Andersonville  December  6,  1864,  Grave  7950. 

LANNIGAN,  CORNELIUS,  enlisted  September  11,  1862;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor 
June  3,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  May  15,,  1865;  died  Octo 
ber  17,  1903. 

LIGHT,  ABSOLEM,  alias  Laurence,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  captured  June  7, 
1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  January  25,  1905. 

LINDSAY,  GEORGE,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  wounded  June  1,  1864;  mustered 
out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Marietta,  Pa. 

LONGSDORF,  CALVIN,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  C.  H. 
May  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

LEUTZ,  CARSON,  enlisted  January  26,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  resides  at  Glen  Campbell,  Pa. 

LEHER,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  not  on  muster  out  roll ;  date  of  death 
unknown. 

MORTON,  WM.  I.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861  ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
November  25,  1863. 

MINICH,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  13,  1861 ;  died  October  15,  1863,  of  wounds 
received  in  action. 

MAYES,  THOMAS,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  1,  1862. 

MOORE,  ALFRED,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Septem 
ber  1,  1862. 


442     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

MILLER,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
July  5,  1863;  date  of  death  unknown. 

MATTIS,  DAVID,  enlisted  October  14,  1861;  captured  July  30,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Marietta,  Pa. 

MALHORN,  SMITH  L.,  enlisted  August  5,  1862;  died  August  15,  1863. 

MULLEN,  JAMES,  enlisted  August  16,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
Jan.  11,  1865. 

MANN,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  September  10,  1862;  discharged  by  general  order 
June  7,  1865. 

MYERS,  JAMES  A.,  enlisted  August  13,  1862;  promoted  to  hospital  steward  Sep 
tember  22,  1862. 

MONROE,  CHARLES  W.,  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  deserted  May  23,  1864. 

MILLER,  OSWELL,  M.,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  inmate  National  Military 
Home,  Ohio. 

MULLEN,  BENJAMIN  F.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  May  21,  1889. 

MELDRUM,  THOMAS,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  deserted  March  13,  1864. 

MUSSER,  SAMUEL  D.,  enlisted  March  18,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

MONTGOMERY,  ROBERT,  drafted  July  9,  1863;  deserted;  returned;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  March  14,  1910. 

MORSE,  JOSEPH  L.,  drafted  August  26,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  resides  at  Piney  Creek,  Bradford  Co.,  Pa. 

MARTIN,  GEORGE,  enlisted  January  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865. 

MCALLISTER,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  1,  1862. 

MCELROY,  EDWARD,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Marietta,  Pa. 

MCNALLY,  THOMAS,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  died  March  16,  1864,  at  Har- 
risburg,  Pa. 

NOPHSKER,  SAMUEL  M.,  enlisted  September  11,  1862;  discharged  June  10,  1865, 
by  special  order,  No.  22,  War  Department. 

PRESCOTT,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  29,  1862 ;  died  March  12,  1905. 

PRUNER,  ROBERT,  enlisted  August  14,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  F  Septem 
ber  1,  1862. 

PFAHLER,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  promoted  to  first  lieutenant 
and  quartermaster  November  22,  1864 ;  died  in  1910. 

PENNELL,  ANDREW,  drafted  September  21,  1864;  discharged  June  7,  1865,  by  gen 
eral  order;  died  on  January  29,  1906. 

RAPHIL,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  20,  1862 ;  inmate  National  Home,  Danville,  111. 

RINEHOLD,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  September  22,  1862. 

REIDEBAUGH,  LUTHER  C,  enlisted  August  5,  1862;  captured  November  17,  1863; 
discharged  June  7,  1865,  by  special  order ;  resides  at  Marshallville,  Ohio. 


Roster  of  Company  B  443 


ROBINSON,  JAMES  A.,  enlisted  September  13,  1862;  transferred  to  Company  D 
April  18,  1864. 

RITTENHOUSE,  TYLER,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  wounded  and  taken  prisoner 
September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  February  10,  1865. 

RODGERS,  DENNIS,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17  1865. 

SWIGART,  LEVI,  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  mustered  out  January  27,  1865. 

SHIRK,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  September 
1,  1862. 

SWARD,  WENDELL,  enlisted  August  20,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Septem 
ber  1,  1862. 

SCHAFFER,  JOHN  S.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  1,  1862. 

STONE,  HERBERT  M.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  1,  1862. 

STEVENSON,  THEO.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Sep 
tember  1,  1862. 

SMITH,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  Septem 
ber  1,  1862. 

SHERBALUR,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  13,  1861 ;  killed  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

SHANK,  CHRISTIAN,  enlisted  October  20,  1861 ;  died  January  20,  1863. 

SCHROLL,  JOHN  B.,  enlisted  October  8,  1861;  captured  September  30,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  March  14,  1910. 

SHARP,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  20,  1861 ;  died,  date  unknown,  of  wounds 
received  at  Antietam  September  17,  1862. 

SEGAR,  GEORGE,  enlisted  October  14,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  F  September 
1,  1862. 

SHIREMAN,  HENRY,  enlisted  February  24,  1862 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  resides  at  Marion,  Iowa. 

SHAEFFER,  GEORGE,  enlisted  August  2,  1862;  died  January  22,  1863;  buried  at 
Alexandria,  Va.,  Grave  697. 

SHEETS,  JEREMIAH,  enlisted  August  10,  1862 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  20,  1862. 

SMALL,  LAWRENCE  M.,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June 
3,  1864;  discharged  May  8,  1865;  died  January  14,  1910. 

SNYDER,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  August  18,  1862;  died  December  21,  1863. 

SOURBEER,  JACOB,  enlisted  August.  10,  1862 ;  discharged  April  17,  1865,  of  wounds 
received  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864. 

SMITH,  HENRY  W.,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  captured  December  14,  1863;  died 
at  Richmond,  Va.,  March  20,  1864. 

SWARTZ,  SAMUEL  D.,  enlisted  August  27,  1862 ;  killed  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

STAHL,  EDWARD  L.,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  died  August  5,  1900. 

SMITH,  OTIS,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  1409  Stout  Street,  Denver, 
Colo. 


444     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

STEVENSON,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6, 
1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  February  17, 
1865. 

SHIREMAN,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  February  21,  1890. 

SCHAUR,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

SIPE,  JOHN,  enlisted  August  22,  1864;  discharged  April  1,  1865,  for  wounds 
received  September  30,  1864. 

SHOG,  JOHN,  drafted  July  16,  1863;  deserted  March,  1864;  absent  in  arrest  at 
muster  out. 

SMITH,  AQUILLA,  drafted  September  21,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order 
June  7,  1865 ;  died  March  8,  1892. 

SMITH,  GIDEON,  drafted  June  4,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order  May  30.  1865; 
resides  at  Purcell,  Bedford  Co.,  Pa. 

SCHMIDT,  ALFRED,  enlisted  December  31,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

SMITH,  JAMES,  drafted  August  4,  1864;  deserted  April  3,  1865. 

STEVENS,  MYRON,  alias  Andrew  Shaw,  enlisted  December  30,  1864;  substitute; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Bismark,  Mich. 

TRAYER,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  13,  1861;  captured  July  30,  1864;  mustered 
out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Falmouth,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa. 

TYLER,  JOHN  E.,  enlisted  August  10,  1862 ;  transferred  to  Company  F,  April,  1864. 

UPDEGRAFF,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  Oct.  19,  1911. 

WALL,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  killed  at  Petersburg,  June  19,  1864. 

WALTON,  HIRAM  F.,  enlisted  September  13,  1861;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3, 
1864. 

WALTON,  AMOS,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain  Septem 
ber  14,  1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  Section  26,  Lot  C, 
Grave  289. 

WAGNER,  FRANKLIN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain  Sep 
tember  14,  1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  Section  26,  Lot  C, 
Grave  294. 

WEAVER,  ANDREW  J.,  enlisted  September  6,  1862;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps ;  died  January  12,  1902. 

WOLF,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  11,  1862;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3, 
1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  April  11,  1865;  died  October  19,  1893. 

WALTERS,  CHARLES  F.,  enlisted  February  10,  1864;  captured  September  30, 
1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Halifax,  Pa. 

WILSON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  24,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

YOUNG,  JAMES,  enlisted  January  2,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 


1910 


1862 

First  Lieut.  Jesse  W.  Horton 
Company  C 


Roster  of  Company  C  445 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  C 

Recruited    in    Mifflin    County. 

COMPILED  BY  JAMES  A.  MITCHELL  AND  JOSIAH  MCMANIGAL. 
COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

WILLIAM  G.  BIGELOW,  captain ;  enlisted  August  31,  1861 ;  resigned  November  1, 

1862 ;  died  November  28,  1900. 
JOHN    F.   TROUT,   captain;    enlisted    September   2,    1861;    promoted    from   second 

lieutenant    of    Company    H    to    captain    Company    C    January    15,    1863;    to 

major  March  31,  1865. 
BENJAMIN    C.    MCMANIGAL,    captain;    enlisted    October    18,    1861;    promoted    to 

first  sergeant  June  1,  1864 ;  to  first  lieutenant  September  2,  1864  ;  to  captain 

May   12,   1865 ;   prisoner  from   September  30  to   March   3,      1865 ;   mustered 

out  with  company  July   17,   1865 ;   resides   at  Logan,   Ohio. 
JESSE  W.  HORTON,  first  lieutenant;   enlisted  August  31,   1861;   resigned  July  30, 

1862;  resides  at  Belleville,  Pa. 
JAMES  M.   BULICK,   first   lieutenant ;   enlisted   August   31,    1861 ;    promoted   from 

second    lieutenant   to   first   lieutenant    August    1,    1862 ;    discharged    on    sur- 

gean's  certificate  January  15,   1863 ;  dead. 
SAMUEL  B.   LITTLE,  first   lieutenant ;   enlisted   September  25,    1865 ;   promoted  to 

sergeant    September  28,    1861 ;    to   first   lieutenant    April    20,    1863 ;    resigned 

April  20,  1864 ;  died  April  3,  1895. 
JAMES  P.  GIBBONEY,  first  lieutenant;    enlisted    October    18,    1861;    promoted    to 

sergeant  June    1,    1864;    to   first    lieutenant   May   31,    1864;   killed    on   picket 

line  July  18,  1864. 
A.    A.    MCDONALD,    first    lieutenant ;    enlisted     August    31,     1861 ;     wounded    at 

Petersburg,  Va.,  July  31,    1864 ;   promoted  to  sergeant  January   1,   1865 ;   to 

second  lieutenant  February  1,  1865 ;  to  first  lieutenant  May  12,  1865 ;  mustered 

out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  dead. 
ISAAC  STEELY,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  August  31,   1861 ;   discharged  June  7, 

1863 ;  died  Jan.  28,  1912. 
JOHN  A.   OSBORN,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted   September  24,   1861 ;  promoted  to 

sergeant    September  28,   1861;    to   second   lieutenant  July   7,    1863;    resigned 

July  26,  1864 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 
MICHAEL    HINEY,    second    lieutenant;     enlisted     September     6,     1861;     wounded 

July  30,  1864;  promoted  from  sergeant  to  second  lieutenant  May  12,  1865; 

mustered  out  with  company  July  17,   1865 ;  resides  at  Mount  Union,  Hun 
tingdon  Co.,  Pa. 

NON-COMMISSIONED    OFFICERS. 

GEORGE  MCMICHAELS,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  August  31,  1861 ;  promoted  to 
first  sergeant  July  7,  1863;  killed  at  Blue  Springs,  Tenn.,  October  10,  1864. 

JAMES  A.  MITCHELL,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  6,  1861 ;  promoted  to  ser 
geant  February  22,  1865;  to  first  sergeant  May  12,  1865;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Westmoreland,  Kansas. 


446     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

JOSIAH  MCMANIGAL,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  19,  1861;  promoted  to  ser 
geant  May  30,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864  to  March  3,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Ridgway,  Elk  Co.,  Pa! 

HARRISON  OBURN,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  24,  1861;  wounded  at  Wilder 
ness  May  6,  1864;  promoted  to  sergeant  September  1,  1864;  prisoner  from 
September  30,  1864  to  March  3,  1865;  wounded  while  a  prisoner  at  Salis 
bury,  N.  C. ;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865 ;  died  August  13,  1899. 

JOHN  SHAFFER,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  wounded  M'ay  31,  1864; 
promoted  from  corporal  to  sergeant  May  12,  1865;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  611  East  Church  Street,  Lock  Haven,  Pa. 

A.  F.  ALEXANDER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  27,  1861 ;  promoted  from  cor 
poral  to  sergeant  July  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865; 
resides  at  Grove  City,  Pa. 

JOHN  YOUNG,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  31,  1861;  prisoner  from  September 
30,  1864,  to  March  3,  1865;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  June  30, 
1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

JAMES  H.  MUSSER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  18,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant 
June  1,  1863;  to  quartermaster  sergeant  January  18,  1865;  mustered  out 
July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

JACOB  ZERBY,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  6,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant  Sep 
tember  28,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  April  11,  1862;  died  No 
vember  21,  1893. 

JOHN  A.  PRESSLER,  corporal;  enlisted  March  1,  1862;  wounded  at  Blue  Springs, 
Tenn.,  October  10,  1863;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  9,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Westmoreland,  Kans. 

SAMUEL  A.  CLICK,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  6,  1861 ;  absent  on  furlough  at 
muster  out ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

WILLIAM  W.  PRESSLER,  corporal;  enlisted  February  24,  1864;  prisoner  from 
September  30,  1864,  to  October  7,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  resides  at  Newton-Hamilton,  Pa.,  R.  F.  D.  No.  1. 

THEOPH.  C.  THOMAS,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  31,  1861 ;  wounded  at  An- 
tietam,  Md.,  September  17,  1862;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3, 
1864;  captured  April  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

JAMES  H.  BIGELOW,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  May 
6,  to  December  11,  1864;  mustered  put  with  company  July  17,  1865;  'died 
July,  1895. 

JOHN  H.  VARNER,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Wilder 
ness  May  5,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  May  12,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  inmate  National  Military  Home,  Ohio. 

JOSEPH   OBURN,   corporal;    enlisted    February  26,    1864;    prisoner    from   June   9, 

1864,  to   March,    1865;   promoted   to   corporal    July    1,    1865;    mustered   out 
with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  August  13,  1899. 

PETER  R.  RUPERT,  corporal;  enlisted  September  26,  1861;  mustered  out  October 

20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;  resides  at  Cottage,  Huntingdon  Co.,  Pa. 
JOHN  A.  MYERS,  corporal ;    enlisted    September    19,    1861 ;    discharged    June     30, 

1865,  for  wounds  received   at   Cold  Harbor,   Va.,  June   3,   1864;   resides   at 
Reynoldsville,  Jefferson  Co.,   Pa. 

JOHN  BICE,  corporal;  enlisted  August  31,  1861;  killed  at  the  Wilderness  May  6, 
1864;  buried  in  Wilderness  burial  grounds. 


Roster  of  Company  C  447 


F.  A.  HAZLETT,  corporal:  enlisted  September  6,  1861;  died  May  10,  1864,  of 
wounds  received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

JOHN  R.  DE  ARMENT,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  died  at  Anderson- 
ville,  Ga.,  June  3,  1864,  Grave  1541. 

JACOB  HAMM,  corporal;  enlisted  September  26,  1861;  died  June  29,  1864,  of 
wounds  received  at  Petersburg  June  18,  1864. 

JOHN  W.  BAILEY,  corporal;  enlisted  August  31,  1861;  died  at  Jarvis  Hospital, 
N.  Y.,  July  26,  1864,  of  wounds  received  in  action. 

WILLIAM  J.  WISE,  musician;  enlisted  August  31,  1861;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  February  11,  1893. 

PETER  SMITH,  musician;  enlisted  October  9,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term ;  died  March,  1893. 

PRIVATES. 

ALEXANDER,  R.  B.,  enlisted  September  20,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  September  20,  1862;  dead. 

ALEXANDER,  JOHN  H.,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term ;  resides  at  West  Saticoy,  Cal. 

ALEXANDER,  J.  T.,  enlisted  March  2,  1862;  discharged  December  21,  1864,  for 
wounds  received  in  action ;  resides  at  826  South  Meridan  Street,  Indianapo 
lis,  Ind. 

ALEXANDER,  CY.  R.,  enlisted  March  2,  1862 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

ANDIRICH,  CHRISTIAN,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  absent,  sick,  at 
muster  out;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BAIRD,  JAMES,  enlisted  October  9,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  Sep 
tember  14,  1862;  buried  at  Antietam  National  Cemetery,  Grave  3873. 

BLACK,  JAMES  T.,  enlisted  March  1,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
January  7,  1863 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BIGELOW,  D.  K.,  enlisted  August  31,  1861;  discharged  December  1,  1862,  for 
wounds  received  at  South  Mountain  September  14,  1862;  date  of  death 
unknown. 

BORDELL,  SENECA  H.,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  discharged  January  17,  1865, 
for  wounds  received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BROWN,  HARVEY,  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BULICK,  THOMAS  M.,  enlisted  September  6,  1861 ;  discharged  December  19,  1862, 
for  wounds  received  at  South  Mountain  Septemben  14,  1862 ;  resides  at  317 
North  Second  Street,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

BARK,  DAVID  C.,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  died  April  3,  1888. 

BARR,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BIGELOW,  LEBIUS  S.,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  July  30,  1895. 

BOPP,  JACOB,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

BRANNON,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  July  30,  1864;  transferred  to  Western  Army  March 
8,  1865. 


448     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

BRENNAN,  TIMOTHY,  enlisted  December  30,  1864;  substitute;  absent,  sick,  at 
muster  out ;  resides  at  335  Carver  Street,  Plymouth,  Pa. 

BREMER,  LUDWIG,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  died  of  wounds  re 
ceived  in  action  April  2,  1865. 

BROWN,  CHARLES,  enlisted  August  10,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

BROWN,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  31,   1864;   substitute;   deserted   June  20,   1865. 

BURNS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  July  21,  1864;  substitute;  captured  September  30, 
1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  December  28,  1864. 

BYRNES,  HENRY,  enlisted  July  28,  1864;  substitute;  captured  September  30,  1864; 
escaped  from  prison  and  returned  May  12,  1865;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

BOVEL,  JOHN,  enlisted  July  30,  1864;  substitute;  absent,  sick  at  muster  out. 

BROPHY,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  July  28,  1864;  substitute;  absent,  sick,  at  muster 
out ;  died  March  24,  1891. 

BICE,  JAMES,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at 
Salisbury,  N.  C.,  February  9,  1865. 

BRINDLE,  ABRAHAM,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  drowned  in  James  River  June 
15,  1864. 

CALDWELL,  JAMES  N.,  enlisted  October  18,  1861;  died  May  12,  1864,  of  wounds 
received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

CARNEY,  FRANCIS  G.,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  March  4,  1863;  resides  at  Belleville,  Mifflin  Co.,  Pa. 

CARSON,  ROBERT,  enlisted  October  13,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
October  17,  1863. 

CAHILL,  DANIEL,  enlisted  March  4,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  30,  1862;  resides  at  Elaine,  Broome  Co.,  New  York. 

COOK,  ROBERT  S.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  deserted  May  1,   1863. 

CURWIN,  STEPHEN,  enlisted  October  4,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  December  12,  1864;  died  March  10,  1899. 

CARNEY,  PATRICK,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  April  3,  1864. 

CIVITS,  JOHN  H.,  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  discharged  December  28,  1865,  for 
wounds  received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  resides  at  Allensville,  Mif 
flin  Co.,  Pa. 

CORNISH,  JOHN,  enlisted  March  16,  1865 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

CADMORE,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  29,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  inmate  National  Home,  Tennessee. 

CULP,  GEORGE  L.,  enlisted  August  6,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1805;  date  of  death  unknown. 

DAVIS,  SAMUEL  P.,  enlisted  October  9,  1861;  prisoner  from  July  30.  1864,  to 
February  6,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  inmate  National 
Military  Home,  Ohio. 

DE  ARMENT,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  19,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor, 
Va.,  June  1,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death 
unknown. 

DIEHL,  PETER,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  9,  1863;  dead. 


COMPANY  C 


Corporal  F.  A.  Hazlett 


Corporal  T.  E.  Thomas 


S.  P.  Davis 


S.  P.  Davis 


Roster  of  Company  C  449 


DIFFENDERFER,    AARON,    enlisted    September    6,    1861;    discharged    on    surgeon's 

certificate  December  11,   1862;   died  October  15,  1893. 
DUNCAN,    ALEXANDER,    enlisted    July   30,    1864;    substitute;    mustered    out    with 

company  July  17,  1865;  inmate  Soldiers'  Home,  Tenn. 
DESEY,    MICHAEL,   enlisted   November  26,    1864;    substitute;    mustered   out   with 

company  July  17,  1865 ;  unknown. 
DOWNS,   GIDEON    R.,   drafted   December   16,    1864;    mustered    out   with   company 

July  17,  1865;   unknown. 
DOUGHERTY,  EDWARD,  enlisted  December  29,   1864 ;    substitute ;   deserted  January 

28,  1865;  unknown. 
EALY,   FRANKLIN,    enlisted    September  26,    1861 ;    captured    September   30,    1864 ; 

mustered  out  with  company  July  17,   1865;   died  July  6,   1911. 
EMIGH,   CHRISTIAN,  drafted  October  3,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865 ;  unknown. 
EATON,  WILLIAM,  drafted  November  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;  unknown. 
FLANNERY,  JAMES,   enlisted  July  28,  1864;  substitute;  prisoner  from   September 

30,    1864,   to   February,    1865;    mustered   out    with   company   July   17,    1865; 

unknown. 
FERTIG,  THADDEUS,   enlisted    February  24,    1864;    discharged   June   22,    1865,    for 

wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,   1864;   died  May  7,   1910. 
FULTZ,    JOHN   A.,    enlisted   February  26,   1864;    wounded  at    Cold   Harbor  June 

3,    1864;    discharged  on   surgeon's  certificate   April   10,   1865;    died   April   8, 

1911. 

FOSTER,  JOHN,  enlisted  January  4,   1865;   substitute;   deserted  January  28,  1865. 
FIELDS,  JAMES  B.,  enlisted  March  1,  1862;   died  March  19,   1863,  of  wounds  re 
ceived   at   South    Mountain,    Md.,    September    14,    1862;    buried   in    National 

Cemetery,   Antietam,   Grave  4079. 
FELTMAN,  VALENTINE,  enlisted  December  1,  1864;   mustered  out   with  company 

July  17,   1865;  died  June,  1911. 

GABLE,  WILLIAM  M.,  enlisted  September  6,   1861 ;   discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  April  20,  1863;  unknown. 
GOODMAN,    CHAS.    B.,    enlisted    September    6,    1861 ;    killed    at    South    Mountain, 

Md.,  September   14,  1862. 
GOODMAN,  ADAM,  enlisted  September  6,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 

September  14,  1862;  died  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  January  28,  1864. 
GREGG,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  26,   1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's   certificate 

March  12,  1863;  unknown. 
GREGG,    WINFIELD,    enlisted    September    26,    1861 ;    mustered    out    with    company 

July  17,  1865. 
GEIR,    JACOB,    enlisted   July   28,    1864;    substitute;    mustered    out    with    company 

July   17,  1865;  unknown. 
GREGG,  ANDREW,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness,  Va.,   May 

6,  1864;  killed  at  Peebles  Farm,  Va.,   September  30,  1864. 

GROWDEN,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  July  5,  1862;  wounded  April  2.  1865;  absent  in  hos 
pital  at  muster  out ;   cl'ed  March   23,   1901. 
GARRETT,  JOHN    P..    enlisted   January   3,    1865;    substitute;    deserted   January   20. 

iMJo  ;    urknov.ru 


450     Fortv-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

HAMILTON,  JAMES,  enlisted  August  31,  1861 ;  wounded  ati  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862 ;  discharged  September  29,  1862 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HARDY,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  died  December  17,  1861 ;  buried  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  Va. ;  unknown. 

HARDY,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
October  1,  1862. 

HOBAUGH,  GEORGE  M.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  a  sergeant,  wounded  No 
vember  7,  1863;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864;  expiration  of  term;  re 
sides  at  Butler,  Pa. 

HAY,  JACOB,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  died  September  1,  1888. 

HEAPHY,  TIMOTHY,  enlisted  -December  28,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  unknown. 

HAVENS,  ANDREW  J.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864 ;  died  at  City  Point,  iVa.,  No 
vember  22,  1864. 

HEFMAN,   AMOS,  enlisted  (July  29,  1864;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;    unknown. 

HUGHES,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  December  30,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  unknown. 

HOOLIHAN,  EDWARD,  enlisted  January  7,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  May  28, 
1865. 

HOUSTON,  JAMES,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  died  at  Philadelphia  July  22,  1864. 

IRVIN,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1863;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term;  died  Febru 
ary,  1911. 

ITTIG,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  21,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  unknown. 

KERR,  ROBERT,  enlisted  August  31,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  Sep 
tember  14,  1862 ;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  Grave  3873. 

KNAPP,  PETER,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  5,  1863 ;  unknown. 

LAFORTE,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term ;  died  August  16,  1870. 

LANDIS,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  October  9,  1861;  died  October  10,  1863. 

LANTZ,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  July  1,  1862 ;  died  November  22,  1901. 

LONG,  JOHN,  enlisted  September .2,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term ;  unknown. 

LATCHFORD,  DAVID  E.,  enlisted  September  8,  1863;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor 
June  3,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  Kalamazoo, 
Mich. 

LOWRY,  DAVID,  enlisted  September  2,  1864;  died  at  City  Point,  Va.,  August  13, 
1864. 

MILLS,  LEVI  W.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  wounded  at  Wilderness,  Va., 
May  6,  1864;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term;  died 
July  3,  1894. 

MILLER,  JOHN  J.,  enlisted  September  24,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  February  27,  1862;  resides  at  226  E.  Eleventh  Street,  Tyrone,  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  C  451 

MITCHELL,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  March  1,  1862;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 
June  3,  1864 ;  mustered  out  March  20,  1865,  at  expiration  of  term ;  resides 
at  Arnett,  Ellis  Co.,  Oklahoma. 

MORGAN,  WM.  R,  enlisted  September  26,  1861;  died  September  27,  1863. 

MOVER,  GEORGE  N.,  enlisted  September  19,  1861;  died  September  3,  1863. 

MYERS,  CALVIN  B.,  enlisted  August  31,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  February  21,  1863 ;  unknown. 

MITCHELL,  JOHN,  enlisted  March  1,  1862;  died  October  1,  1862;  buried  in  Mili 
tary  Asylum  Cemetery,  Washington,  D.  C. 

MATHEWS,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  September  15,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  spe 
cial  order ;  unknown. 

MILLER,  HENRY,  drafted  December  16,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
August  4,  1865;  resides  at  Winterstown,  Pa. 

MOORE,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  January  11,  1865;  dead. 

MALLOY,  JOHN,  enlisted  January  6,  1865;  substitute;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out; 
unknown. 

MURRAY,  THOMAS,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Hampshire,  Texas. 

MURRAY,  BARNEY,  enlisted  December  30,  1864;  substitute;  deserte^  February  5, 
1865 ;  unknown. 

MURPHY,  JOHN,  enlisted  July  29,  1864;  substitute;  captured  September  30, 
1864  ;<  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  February  28,  1865. 

MURPHY,  MAURICE,  enlisted  December  27,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  January  28, 
1805 ;  unknown. 

MEE,  JOHN  H.,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  July  7,  1886. 

MOREADY,  MERRILL,  enlisted  February  7,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  unknown. 

McCRUM,  DAVID  A.,  enlisted  October  9,  1861;  deserted  May  19,  1864;  died 
March  3,  1911. 

MCFADDEN,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  19,  1861;  died  June  17,  1864,  of  wounds 
received  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

McKiNNEY,  JAMES,  enlfsted  October  7,;.  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  24,  1863;  resides  at  Tyrone,  Blair  Co.,  Pa. 

MCKINNEY,  DANIEL,  enlisted  October  7,  1861;  wounded, at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 
June  3,  1864 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;  unknown. 

MCCORMICK,  JAMES,  enlisted  February  19,  1864 ;  i  discharged  by  order  of  War 
Department  June  2,  1865;  resides  at  Downs,  Kansas. 

MCDONALD,  REUBEN  O.,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  June  6,  1865;  resides  at  Windber,  Pa. 

McGiNNESS,  GEORGE,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  unknown. 

McHALE,  THOMAS,  enlisted  March  20,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
'17,  1865;  died  January  28,  1903. 

MCELROY,  JOHN  B.,  enlisted  -  — ;  died  June  19,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at 
Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

McNAiR,  PETER,  drafted  October  15,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  February  27,  1901. 


4S-2     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

MCKNIGHT,  JOHN   W.,   draftee!  July  4,   1863;   mustered  out   with  company  July 

17,  1865;  unknown. 
McMAHON,  MICHAEL,  drafted  June  22,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-first  Regiment 

Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  May  29,  1865;  unknown. 

McGEE,   BARNEY,  enlisted;   substitute;   deserted  January  20,   1865;   unknown. 
NALLS,    GEORGE    M.,    enlisted    December    29,    1864;    substitute;    absent,    sick,    at 

muster  out;  address,   Philamont,  Va. 
NELSON,   THOMAS,    enlisted    January   4,    1865;    substitute;    deserted   January   28, 

1865 ;   unknown. 
NICHOLS,  DAVID  C.,   enlisted  July  30,   1864 ;   substitute ;   captured  September  30, 

1864;   died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  February  16,  1865. 

O'BRIEN,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  August  31,  1861;  deserted  May  19,  1864;  unknown. 
PARSONS,  THOMAS,  enlisted  October   14,  1861 ;   killed  at   South   Mountain,  Md., 

September   14,    1862;    buried    at   Antietam    National    Cemetery,    Grave   3874. 
PLATT,  JOHN   B.,  enlisted   September  26,  1861 ;    discharged  on  surgeon's   certifi 
cate  June  2,  1864 ;   date  of  death  unknown. 
PRICE,  JACKSON  H.,  enlisted  September  19,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain, 

September  14,  1862;  died  May  26,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at  Wilderness, 

Va.,  May  6,  1864;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Arlington,  Va. 
PHILLIPS,  WILLIAM,   enlisted  July  27,   1864;   substitute;  killed  at   Peebles  Farm, 

Va.,  September  30,  1864. 
POWELL,  FRANKLIN,  enlisted  January  2,   lcQ65 ;  mustered  out  with   company  July 

17,  1865;  unknown. 
QUIGLEY,  CHARLES,   enlisted   December   24,    1864;    substitute;    deserted   June   16, 

1865 ;   unknown. 

QUINN,  JOHN   T.,  enlisted  February   19,   1864;    discharged   on   surgeon's   certifi 
cate  February  10,  1865. 
Ross,  AMOS  M.,  enlisted  September  19,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Wilderness,  Va.,  May 

6,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Manor  Hill, 

Pa. 
Ross,  JOHN,  enlisted   August  24,   1862;   wounded  at   Wilderness   May  6,    1864; 

discharged    on    surgeon's    certificate    May    26,    1865;    resides    at    Saulsburg, 

Huntingdon  Co.,  Pa. 

Ross,   PETER  J.,  enlisted  August  24,   1862;   died  January  24,   1863. 
REGAN,   MICHAEL,  enlisted  August  1,   1864;   substitute;   captured    September  30, 

1864;   died  at  Salisbury,   N.   C.,   September  28,  1864. 
RAYNO,   WILLIAM,   enlisted   December   30,    1864;    substitute;    mustered   out   with 

company  July  17,  1865;  unknown. 

REED,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  7,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,   1865;   unknown. 
RODDIS,   GEORGE  B.,  enlisted   July  29,   1864;   captured    September   30,    1864;    died 

at  Salisbury,   N.  C.,   November  20,   1864. 
RODNEY,  WINFIELD  S.,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,   1865;   resides   at   Dunmore,   Pa. 
ROLES,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 

3,  1864. 
SAILOR,   CHARLES,    enlisted   September   19,   1861;    died   February   1,   1863;   buried 

in  Military  Asylum   Cemetery,  Washington,  D.   C. 


J.  A.  Pressler,  Co.  C 
1910 


J.  E.  Smucker 
Company  C 


Georde    Sader    Sr.,   Co.  C. 

c*J  <^2 


Roster  of  Company  C  453 


SAGER,  GEORGE,  enlisted  August  14,   1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July   17, 

1865;   resides   at   Scottdale,    Pa. 
SHIMP,  FREDERICK,   enlisted  March  1,   1862;   discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

March  4,  1863;   died  February   11,  1893. 

SIGNER,   ELI,   enlisted  October  14,   1861;  mustered  out  October  20,   1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term ;   died  March,  1893. 
STARRS,  ROOT  B.,  enlisted  August  2,  1862 ;  wounded  August  5>  1864 ;  discharged 

May  19,  1865;  died  -  — ,  1911. 
S MUCKER,   JOHN    E.,    enlisted   March    31,    1864;    wounded   at   Cold   Harbor,   Va., 

June   3,    1864;    discharged    on    surgeon's    certificate    June    14,    1865;    resides 

at  Huntingdon,   Pa. 
STARKS,  CHARLES  F.,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864; 

died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  February  28,  1865. 
SLACK,   GEORGE,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  captured  September  30,   1864;    died 

at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  January  4,  1865. 

SCOTT,   THOMAS   B.,  enlisted  February   18,    1864;   killed   at   Peebles    Farm,   Sep 
tember  30,  1864. 
SCHNEE,  JACOB  F.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864, 

to  March  30,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death 

unknown. 
STUTOR,   ALLEN,    enlisted    February    19,   1864;   wounded   at   Spottsylvania   C.   H., 

May  12,  1864 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 
SCHIMEL,  DAVID  C.,  drafted  October  3,  1864;  mustered  out   with  company  July 

17,  1865,  Chandlerville,  Ohio. 
TATE,  MORDECAI  M.,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 

June  3,  1864;  absent  in  hospital  at  muster  out;   resides  at  McAleveys   Fort, 

Huntingdon  Co.,   Pa. 
TAYLOR,    JOSEPH,    enlisted    July    10,    1864 ;    substitute ;    captured    September    30, 

1864;   died  at   Salisbury,   N.   C.,  January  8,  1865. 
TURNER,  LEVI,   enlisted  October  6,   1864;  mustered  out  with   company  July   !?„ 

1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 
WATSON,  JAMES,  enlisted  March   1,   1862;  mustered  out  October  20,   1864;    date 

of  death  unknown. 
WORTMAN,  ISAAC,  enlisted  September  24,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,   1864, 

at  expiration  of  term ;   died  July  18,  1891. 
WHITE,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  wrounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 

September  14,  1862;   discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate   February  24,  1863; 

died  in  1903. 
WEISER,   MORRIS  L.,   enlisted  August   31,   1861;    died  June   18,    1864,   of  wounds 

received  at  Cold   Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;   buried   in  National  Cemetery 

at  Arlington,  Va. 
WISER,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  20,  1861 ;  died  at  Belleville,  Mifflin  Co.,  Pa., 

February  19,   1864. 
WYANT,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 

September  14,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate   September  25,  1864; 

died  July,  1891. 

WHITMAN,  JOHN,  enlisted   September   26,   1861;   deserted   August   10,    1863;    re 
sides  R.  F.  D.  Slippery  Rock,  Pa. 


454     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    J'olnntecr  Infantry 

WARD,  HUGH,  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  unknown. 

WINEZERL,  BENNETT,  enlisted  December  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Stewartstown,  York  Co.,  Pa. 

YOUNG,  WESLEY,  enlisted  March  1,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  December  28,  1897. 

ZOOK,  DAVID  K.,  enlisted  September  27,  1861;  died  June  8,  1864,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  D 

(COMPILED,  CORRECTED  AND  ARRANGED  FROM  COMPANY  ROLLS  BY  CAPTAIN 
C.  T.  FRYBERGER.) 

COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

AUSTIN  CURTIN,  captain;  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  appointed  brigade  quar 
termaster  and  served  until  December,  1862,  when  appointed  acting  quar 
termaster  First  Division  Ninth  Army  Corps;  served  until  April,  1864, 
when  appointed  acting  quartermaster  Fourth  Division  Ninth  Corps;  died 
November  17,  1911. 

CHARLES  T.  FRYBERGER,  captain ;  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  appointed  cor 
poral  ;  promoted  to  sergeant  December  2,  1862 ;  promoted  to  first  sergeant 
May  6,  1864 ;  transferred  to  Seventy-ninth  New  York  Volunteers  January  15, 
1864 ;  retransferred  to  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  April  15,  1864 ; 
promoted  to  first  lieutenant  November  24,  1864 ;  to  captain  December  19,  1864 ; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Philipsburg,  Pa. 

JAMES  P.  GREGG,  (M.  D.),  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  ap 
pointed  commissary  of  subsistence  September  8,  1862 ;  served  until  August 
4,  1863;  reappointed  to  same  position  January  1,  1864,  to  January  15,  1864; 
returned  to  company,  taking  command;  killed  in  action  September  30,  1864, 
at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va.,  where  he  is  buried  in  National  Cemetery. 

WILLIAM  K.  WHITLOCK,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  appointed 
sergeant;  promoted  to  first  sergeant  December  13,  1862;  taken  prisoner 
May  6,  1864 ;  returned  to  company  and  promoted  to  second  lieutenant ;  to 
first  lieutenant  December  19,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  January  13,  1898. 

EVAN  R.  GOODFELLOW,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  killed 
at  Battle  of  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

JOSEPH  L.  HINTON,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  December  2,  1861;  promoted  to 
second  lieutenant  December  19,  1864,  having  served  as  corporal,  sergeant 
and  first  sergeant;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence, 
Milesburg,  Pa. 

NON-COM  MISSIONED    OFFICERS. 

SIDNEY  T.  MUFFLY,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  appointed  adju 
tant  One  Hundred  and  Seventy-eighth  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Militia ;  resi 
dence,  Howard,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 


Capt.  C.  T.  Fryberger 
Company  D 


COMPANY   D 


mM 


J.  Toner  Lucas 


Captain  Austin  Curtin 


Second  Lieut.  Evan  R.  Goodfellow 


First  Lieut.  James   P.  Gregg 


Roster  of  Company  D  455 

ANDREW  T.  BOGGS,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
corporal  to  sergeant  to  first  sergeant ;  wounded  June  3,  1864,  at  Bethesda 
Church,  Va. ;  returned  from  hospital  December  12,  1864,  to  Petersburg,  Va. ; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Milesburg,  Pa. 

REUBEN  V.  BUTLER,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
and  commissary  October  19,  1861 ;  discharged  January  22,  1863,  on  surgeon's 
certificate. 

JOHN  B.  GILL,  sergeant,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
August  10,  1863;  to  sergeant  June  6,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  residence,  Winburne,  Clearfield  Co.,  Pa. 

FREDRICK  GLOSSNER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
December  1,  1862 ;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  May  14, 
1864 ;  guard  to  the  colors  from  December  1,  1862,  to  May  14,  1864  ;  died  in 
Philadelphia,  Fa.,  July  23,  1864,  from  wounds  received  in  front  of  Petersburg, 
Va.,  July  8,  1864. 

ALFRED  MILES,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  died  January  — ,  1900. 

WILLIAM  C.  MCCAULLY,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  appointed  sec 
ond  sergeant  October  19,  1861 ;  discharged  December  25,  1862. 

WILLIAM  ORNER,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
October  19,  1861;  to  sergeant  November  \'2,  1861;  wounded  at  Buckingham 
Ferry,  S.  C.,  March  24.  1862,  by  Rebel  picket;  discharged  on  account  of 
wound  December  22,  1862;  died  April  — ,  1911. 

JOSEPH  SEWELL,  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  12,  1861  ;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ; 
promoted  to  corporal  May  1,  1864;  to  sergeant :  May  21,  18,64;  taken  prisoner 
June  7,  1864 ;  paroled  from  Andersonville,  Ga.,  February  25,  1865 ;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865  ;>  died  December  19,  1871. 

FRANCIS   R.    SHOPE,   sergeant;    enlisted   September    15,    1861;    reenlisted   January 

1,  1864;    promoted    to    corporal    June    17,    1864;    taken  \  prisoner    at    Poplar 
Springs    Church,    Va.,    July    30,    1864;    confined    at    Danville,    Va. ;    paroled 
February  1,   1865;   promoted  to   sergeant  \  May   1,   1865;    mustered   out  with 
company  July  17,   1865 ;   residence,  Nashua,   la. 

JOHN  H.  WINTERS,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  23,  1864 ;  i reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  promoted  to  sergeant  November  1,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865.  , 

LAIRD  A.  BARTLY,  corporal;  enlisted  September  23,  1863;  taken  prisoner  July 
30,  1864 ;  died  at  Danville,  Va.,  February  28,  1865. , 

JOHN  H.  BOSTETERS,  corporal;  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  ;  residence,  Livermore,  Humbold  Co.,  la. 

W.  B.  BLAKE,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  20,  1864 ;  residence,  Houtzdale, 
Clearfield  Co.,  Pa. 

JOHN  i  S.  Fox,  corporal;  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  April 

2,  1865;  residence,  Bennington,  Kansas. 

CHAUNCEY  GLEN,  corporal;  enlisted  February  14,  1862;  wounded  at  Antietam, 
Md.,  September  17,  1862,  with  i  loss  of  four  fingers;  promoted  to  corporal 
August  10,  1862;  discharged  February  26,  1863;  residence,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 


456     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

CHARLES  HINTON,  corporal;  enlisted  January  25,  1862;  taken  prisoner  at  Poplar 
Springs  Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  paroled  February  3,  1865;  ap 
pointed  corporal ;  mustered  out  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  dead, 
date  unknown. 

MICHAEL  C.  JOBSON,  corporal;  enlisted  September  23,  ;  1861;  wounded  July  30, 
1864,  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va. ;  sent  to  hospital ;  appointed  corporal  May 
26,  1864;  discharged  April  24,  1865;  residence,  .Mill  Hall,  Clinton  Co.,  Pa. 

HENRY  S.  KRAPE,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  taken  prisoner  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  30,  1864;  paroled 
February  20,  1865;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

JAMES  H.  KELSO,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
August  15,  1863 ;  died  of  smallpox  while  on  veteran •  furlough  February  27, 
1864. 

WILLIAM  KUNES,  corporal;  enlisted  September  ,  15,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
October  19,  1861;  discharged  on  account  of  disability  January  31,  1863; 
residence,  Blanchard,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

DANIEL  MALONE,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
October  19,  1861 ;  on  recruiting  service  •.  from  February  1,  to  April  15,  1862 ; 
discharged  on  account  of  disability  May  26,  1862;  died  October  20,  1898. 

WILLIAM  L.  MOSES,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  4,  1862 ; '  sent  to  hospital  Octo 
ber  1,  1862;  returned  to  duty  December  2,  1862;  sent  to  hospital  August  6, 
1863 ;  returned  January  1,  ,  1864 ;  promoted  to  corporal  February  1,  1865 ; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

JAMES  H.  McBRiDE,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January 
1,  1864 ;  regimental  butcher  at  brigade  commissary ;  promoted  to  corporal 
June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

WILLIAM  J.  McCANN,  corporal ;  >  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  promoted  to  ser 
geant  October  18,  1861 ;  reduced  to  corporal  November  2,  1861 ;  sent  to  hos 
pital  October  15,  1862;  discharged  December  19,  1862;  died' at  Salona,  Clin 
ton  Co.,  Pa.,  October  26,  1910. 

JOHN  McCLAiN,  corporal ;  .enlisted  September  23,  1861;  taken  prisoner  at  Pop 
lar  Springs  Church,  Va.,  July  30,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1,  1864; 
died  of  starvation  in  prison  at  Danville,  Va.,  November  15, '1864. 

DAVID  H.  PARSONS,  "Hesh,"  corporal;  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  promoted  to 
corporal  October  19,  1861;  wounded  June  18,  1864;  sent  to  hospital;  re 
turned  February  2,  1865;  wounded  on  skirmish  line  July  21,  1864;  dis 
charged  October  15,  1864;  dead,  date  unknown. 

SAMUEL  ROOP,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  Oc 
tober  19,  1861;  sent  to  hospital  \  August  6,  1863;  taken  prisoner  September 
30,  1864 ;  confined  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. ;  died  of  starvation  and  exposure 
February  14,  1865. 

HARLAND  SAILOR,  corporal;  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  sent  to  hospital  June  6, 
1864;  appointed  corporal  June  1,  1864; -residence,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

WILLIAM  W.  WETZLER,  corporal;  enlisted  February  14,  1862;  reenlisted  January 
1,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1,  1865;  taken  prisoner  iat  Peebles 
Farm,  Va.,  September  30,  1864  ;  confined  in  Salisbury  prison,  N.  C. ;  paroled 
February  25,  1865;  returned! to  company  June  3,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 


Corporal  John  S.  Fox,  Co.  D 
1864 


Corporal  John  S.  Fox,  Co.  D 
1910 


J.  Toner  Lucas 
Company  D 


COMPANY  D 


Capt.  Charles  T.  Fryberger 
1861 


Capt.  Charles  T.  Fryberger 
1910 


First  Sergt.  A.  T.  Boggs 
1861 


First  Sergt.  A.  T.  Boggs 
1910 


COMPANY   D 


A.  D.  Albert 


William  Gibson 


W.  S.  Williams 


W.  S.  Williams  and  Wife 
March,  1864 


Roster  of  Company  D  457 


JAMES  I.  YARNELL,  corporal;  enlisted  March  25,  1864;  appointed < corporal  Janu 
ary  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Snow 
Shoe,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

PRIVATES. 

ADAMS,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  discharged  April  30,  1863;  unknown. 

ALBERT,  ALLEN  D.,  enlisted: March  29,  1862;  slightly  wounded  at  Jackson,  Miss., 
July  10,  1862;  wounded  at  Blue  Springs,  Term..,  October  10,  1863,  and  again 
at  the  Battle  of  Wilderness  May  6,  1864,  being  ,  discharged  on  account  of 
latter  wound  December  9,  1864 ;  residence,  No.  1727  Kilbourne  Place, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

BAKER,  JOHN  R.,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  assistant  to  company  cook  from 
date  of  enlistment  to  August  8,  1862 ;  sent  to  hospital  and  discharged  Novem 
ber  1,  1862,  on  account  of  inefficiency  as  a  soldier. 

BARGER,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  23,  ,1861;  discharged  October  19,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  December  28,  1891. 

BARNETT,  THOMAS,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  musician  in  regimental ,  corps ; 
sent  to  hospital  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  December  10,  1862 ;  transferred 
to  Invalid  Corps  November  15,  1863;  dead, 'date  unknown. 

BATHURST,  JOHN  B.,  enlisted  March  4,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 
with  loss  of  leg;  residence,  Joplin,  Mo. 

BATHURST,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  September  15,   1864;  killed  June  3,   1864. 

BEASER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  on 'duty  in  brigade  commissary 
October  17,  1862,  to  February  15,  1863;  regimental  postmaster  until  close 
of  war;  residence,  Dennison  Avenue,  S.  W.  Cleveland,  .Ohio. 

BICKET,  JOSEPH,  alias  Joseph  Robison;  substitute;  enrolled  December  30,  1864; 
mustered  out  July  17,  1865. 

BLAND,  CORNELIUS,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  discharged  at  expiration  of 
term  of  service  October  21,  1864;  residence,  Center  Hall,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

BLAND,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  23,  ,  1861 ;  discharged  April  11,  1862;  dead, 
date  unknown. 

BOELL,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  27,  1861 ;  transferred  from  Company  B ; 
cook  ,<for  Captain  Austin  Curtin;  assistant  quartermaster  December  18, 
1862,  to  January  15,  1864;  cook  for  General  John  I.  Curtin  from  May, 
1864,  to  October  21,  1864,  when  discharged  at  expiration  of  term  of  ;  serv 
ice;  died  September  15,  1898. 

BROWN,  HENRY  W.,  enlisted  October  18,  1861;  discharged  May  26,  1862,  on 
account  of  disability;  residence,  Port  Matilda,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

BROWN,  JOSEPH  H.,  enlisted  December  27,  1861 ;  discharged  September  25,  1862 ; 
died  March  2,  1910. 

BROWN,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  February  18,  1864 ;  residence,  Julian  Furnace,  Pa. 

BUTLER,  HARVEY  W.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  deserted  March  9,  1864; 
residence,  - —  — ,  Kentucky. 

CARSON,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted   September  15,  1861 ;  died  February  2,  1898. 

CONWAY,  HUGH,  enlisted  August  10,  1861 ;  transferred  August  10,  1862,  to  Com 
pany  D;  ireenlisted  January  1,  1864;  killed  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va., 
June  27,  1864. 

COOK,  HARRY  H.,  enlisted  February  13,  1864 ;  wounded  May  6,  1864,  at  Battle 
of  Wilderness;  died  May  19,  1911. 


458     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

COOK,  SAMUEL  W., -enlisted  October  8,  1861;  on  detail  duty  in  quartermaster's 
department  October  5,  1862,  to  January  15,  1864;  on  detail  duty  at  brigade 
headquarters  April  2,  1864;  sent  to  hospital  June  12,  1864;  Discharged 
October  21,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  residence,  No.  672 
North  Fifteenth  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Cox,  ABRAM,  enlisted  August  10,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  D  from  Com 
pany  B  August  10,  1862;  mustered  out  with  company  July -17,  1865;  dead, 
date  unknown. 
CRAIG.  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  1,  1861;  discharged  at  expiration  of  term  of 

service ;  died ,  1899. 

DEHASS,  PHILIP,  enlisted  October  8,  1861;  wounded  at  battle  of  South  Moun 
tain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  discharged  December  17,  1862;  dead,  date 
unknown. 

DENTLER,  STEVEN,  substitute;  enrolled  January  5,  1865;   died  -      — ,   1897. 
DILLEN,  EDWARD,  substitute;  enrolled  December  30,  1864; 'joined  company  Janu 
ary  16,    1865;    deserted  February   16,   1865,   at   Petersburg,  Va. 
DOAN,   GEORGE  W.,   substitute;   enrolled   January    15,  ,1865;    residence,   Wilcox, 

Elk  Co.,  Pa. 

DOLAN,  JOHN  W.,  enlisted    September    15,    1861;    wounded    June  3,    1864;    dis 
charged  on  account  of  wound  January  5,   1865;   residence,   Lamar,   Clinton 
Co.,  Pa. 
DOYLE,  THOS.,   substitute;   enrolled   December  30,   1864;   deserted  February   16, 

1865,  at  Petersburg,  Va. 
DRAKE, •  DANIEL  V.,  drafted;  enrolled  November  12,  1864;  discharged  March  27, 

1865,  by  furnishing  substitute  for  one  year ;  died  ,  1892. 

ECKLEY,  WILLIAM,   enlisted   February  25,   1861;   wounded   at  Bethesda   Church, 

Va.,  June  3,  1864 ;  residence,  Milesburg,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 
ELDRIDGE,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  December  2,   1861;  wounded  June  3,   1864;   sent 

to  hospital;  returned  to  duty  July  15,  1864;  died  August  ;26,  1887. 
EVERS,  THOMAS,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  appointed  corporal  July  1,  1863 ; 
sergeant  January  1,  1865;  reduced) to  ranks  February  14,  1865;  color  bearer 
from  May  6,    1864,   to   February   16,   1865;    residence,   Hublersburg,    Center 
Co.,   Pa. 
FETTERS,  DANIEL, 'enlisted  Septemebr  23,  1861;  discharged  February  15,  1862,  on 

account  of  disability. 
FLICK,  WILLIAM   L.,   enlisted   September   15,   1861 ;   reenlisted   January    1,    1864 ; 

killed  at  Bethesda  •  Church,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

FOLK,  HENRY  A.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Seventy-ninth  New 
York  Infantry  January  15,  1864;  returned  to  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  In 
fantry  April  15,  1864 ;  discharged  while  in  hospital  October  19,  1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term  of  service ;  residence,  Altoona,  Pa. 

FOLK,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  26,  1862;  wounded  at  Blue  Springs,  Tenn.,  Sep 
tember  14,  1863;  sent  to  hospital;  transferred  to  Seventy-ninth  New  York 
Infantry  January  15,  1864;  returned  to  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Infantry 
April  15,  1864;  discharged  October  19,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service. 
FREE,  CHARLES,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  killed  June  3,  .1864,  at  battle  of 
Bethesda  Church,  Va. 


Roster  of  Company  D  459 


FULTON,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  February  13,  .1864;  killed  June  3,  1864,  at  battle  of 
Bethesda  Church,  Va. 

GALBRAITH,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  clerk  in  headquarters  , in 
Camp  Curtin,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  from  October  19,  1861,  to  June  1,  1862;  dis 
charged  June  30,  1862 ;  reenlisted  November  1,  1862 ;  clerk  in  division  quar 
termaster's  department  from  July  5,  1863,  to  January  1,  1864;  taken  prisoner 
May  6,  1864,  at  Battle  of  Wilderness;  escaped  from  prison, April  1,  1865; 
discharged  June  5,  1865. 

GARDNER,  JOHNSON  K.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  discharged  September  25, 
1862,  on  account  of  disability;  died  November  11,  1903. 

GARRETT,  CHARLES  S.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  discharged  January  22,  1863 ; 
dead,  date  unknown. 

GETTY,  GEORGE  B.,  enlisted  November: 29,  1864;  residence,  Shelby,  Mich. 

GIBSON,  WILLIAM,  substitute;  wounded  in  battle  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va., 
April  2,  1865;  sent  to  hospital;  reenlisted  January  3,  1865;  returned  to 
duty  April  30,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence, 
Apalachin,  N.  Y.  , 

GLOSSNER,  DANIEL,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  wounded  while  out  of  camp 
without  permission,  sent  to  hospital  June  17,  1863;  discharged  October  21, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

GRANT,  AZARIAH,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  drowned  August  13,  1863,  on  re 
turn  from  hospital  by  a  collision  of  the  steamer  at  mouth  of  Potomac  River. 

GRIFFITH,  RUFUS,  enlisted  February  26,  1864 ;  .  discharged  June  23,  1865;  died 
at  his  home  in  Milesburg,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

HAKSON,  FREDERICK,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

HALL,  BENJAMIN  F.,  substitute,  enrolled  December  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  near  Ulster,  Pa. 

HARBISON,  JOHN,  alias  Wm.  J.  Walls,  substitute,  enrolled  December  21,  1864; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  No.  1232  Thompson 
Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

HARTIGAN,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  taken  prisoner  November  16, 
1863;  paroled  February  10,  1865;  discharged  at  expiration  of  term  of  serv 
ice  ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HERR,  JOHN  M.,  enlisted' September  23, :  1861;  sent  to  hospital  June  1,  1863;  re 
turned  to  duty  June  30,  1863;  wounded  and  sent  to  hospital  May  16,  1864; 
returned  to  duty  September  12,  1864 ;  :  discharged  October '21,  1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term  of  service;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HEVERLY,  CHARLES,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilder 
ness  May  6,  1864 ;  sent  to  hospital ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
January  10,  1865;  residence,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

HILLIGAS,  JOSIAH,  substitute ;  enrolled  November  29,  1864;  residence,  No.  2001 
Sixth  Street,  below  Germantown  Road,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  , 

HINTON,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  detailed  as  cook  for  General 
Potter,  division  commander,  from  June  ,  1,  1864,  to  July  26,  1864 ;  sent  to 
hospital  July  26,  1864 ;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865 ;  dead. 

HINZY,  JOSIAH,  substitute;  enrolled  December  15,  1865;  company  cook  , from 
June  10,  1864,  to  expiration  of  term  of  service  July  17,  1865. 


460     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

HOBBS,  MILO  S.,   drafted  November   11,   1864;   sent  to  hospital  May  j  14,   1865; 

died  October  24,  1887. 

HOLT,  NORMAN,  enlisted  February  17,  1862;  wounded  at  battle  of  South  Moun 
tain,  Md.;  died  at  Blackwells  Island,   N.   Y.,   September  29,   1862. 
HOLTER,  HENRY  C,  enlisted  February  13,  1864;  chef  for  officers'  mess  of  com 
pany  from  December  5,  1864,  to  expiration  of  term  of  service  July  17,  18651; 

residence,  Howard,  Pa. 
HUNTER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  14,  1862;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 

September  14,  1862;  buried  in  Antfetam  National  Cemetery,  Grave  3871. 
KARRICHHOFF,   FREDERICK,   enlisted   September  23,   1861;    discharged  January   1, 

1863,  on  order  from  Secretary  of  War;  died  March  25,  1907,  Howard,  Pa. 
KEMP,  SELIG,  substitute;  enrolled  December  21,   1864;  discharged  June  6,   1865, 

on  order  from  War  Department,  dated  May  30,  1865;  died  Feb.  9,  1912. 
KERR,  JOHN  B.,   enlisted   September  23,   1861;   discharged   October  21,    1864,   at 

expiration  of  term  of   service. 
KILMORE,  JOHN  W.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  died  of  typhoid  fever  at  Fort 

Seward,  S.  C.,  January  5,  1862;  buried  on  the  island. 
KINDRED,  ORLANDO,  substitute;  enrolled  December  16,  1864;  taken  prisoner  April 

2,  1865;  recaptured  April  9,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 
KING,  DAVID  W.,  drafted  November  11,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865. 

KILLETTS,  LEVI,  drafted  December  23,  1864;  sent  to  hospital  May  15,  1865;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

KUXES,  JOSEPH  B.,  enlisted  September  17,  1861 ;  died  o'f  convulsions  at  Bucking 
ham  Ferry,  Pinckney  Island,   S.   C.,  May  16,  1862. 
LAIRD,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  transferred  from  Company  B.  August 

10,    1862;    reenlisted   January    1,    1864;    taken   prisoner    September   3,    1864; 

paroled  March  1,  1865;  teamster  in  quartermaster's  .department  to  June  3, 

1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,   1865. 
LETTERMAN,    ZACHERY,    enlisted    March   4,    1864 ;    in    Pioneer    Corps    Forty-fifth 

Regiment  Pa.  from  April  26,  1865,  to  close  of  war,  July  17,  1865. 
LEWIS,  ISAAC  W.,  substitute;  enrolled  October  21,  1864;  died  January  6,  1907. 
LINN,  AARON,  substitute;  enrolled  December  29,  1864;  on  guard  duty  at  Ninth 

Corps  quartermaster's  department  from  June  15,  1865,  to  expiration  of  term 

of  service  July  17,  1865. 
LOGAN,  RODY,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ;  teamster 

in   quartermaster's    department    to    expiration   of   term    of    service,    July    17, 

1865. 
LONG,    DAVID,    substitute;    enrolled    January    2,    1865;    deserted    near    Farmville, 

Va.,  April  26,  1865. 
LONG,   HARRISON,   enlisted    September   25,    1861;    discharged   February   15,    1862; 

died  May  16,  1891. 
LUCAS,  JOHN  T.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  in  hospital   August  — ,   1862,  to 

October;  wounded  May  6,   1864;   sent  to  hospital;   returned   to    duty  June 

1,    1864;    discharged    at    expiration   of    term    of    service    October    20,    1864; 

residence,  Moshannon,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 
LUCAS,  NELSON  A.,  enlisted  June  13,  1863;  chef  for  officers'  mess  April  1,  1864, 

to  July  1,  1864 ;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  No.  1612  First  Street. 

N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Roster  of  Company  D  461 

LUCAS,  ROBERT,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  discharged  September  22,  1862. 
LUCAS,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  December  27,  1861 ;  died  of  fever  at  Washington,  D. 

C,  September  14,  1862. 
LYONS,   JOHN,    enlisted   October    1,    1861;    reenlisted   January    1,    1864;    died   of 

starvation  in  Salisbury  prison,  N.  C.,  December  31,  1864. 
MAIZE,    THOMAS,    enlisted    September    2,    1861 ;    transferred    from    Company    B 

August  10,  1862 ;  killed  June  3,  1864,  at  Bethesda  Church,  Va. 
MARCEY,  W.  L,  drafted  November  11,   1864;   died  July  22,  1900. 
MARTIN,   ROBERT,   drafted  November   12,   1864;   company  cook;  sent   to  hospital 

May  14,  1865 ;  died  of  typhoid  fever  June  15,  1865. 
MICHAELS,  HENRY,   enlisted   September   23,    1861 ;    taken  prisoner  July  30,    1864 ; 

sent  to  Danville,  Va.,  where  he  died  November  15,  1864. 
MILLER,  ABRAHAM  V.,  drafted  July  17,  1863;  failed  to  report;  arrested  October 

18,  1864;  fined  $30.00,  and  joined  company  for  duty  February  16,  1865. 
MORE,  ALFRED,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  from  Company  B  August 

10,  1862;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  killed  in  action  May  12,  1864. 
MORGAN,    THOMAS,    substitute,    enrolled    December    29,    1864 ;    residence,    Beach 

City,   Ohio. 
MCCARTY,  JAMES  A.,  substitute;  enrolled  December  31,  1864;  deserted  February 

6,  1865,  at  Petersburg,  Va. 
McCLAiN,    GEORGE  W.,   enlisted   February   29,    1864;    sent    to   hospital   July    10, 

1864;   mustered   out   with  company  July   17,   1865;    residence,   Duncansville, 

Pa. 
MCDONALD,  JOHN  S.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  sent  to  hospital  from  Brooks 

Station,  Va.,   August  28,  1862;   transferred  to   Invalid   Corps   September   1, 

1863;  residence,  Martha  Furnace,  Pa. 
MCENTYRE,  ANDREW,  drafted  July  17,  1863;   failed  to  report;  arrested  October 

19,  1864,  fined  $30.00,  reported  for  duty  February  16,  1865;  address,  Queens- 
town,  Pa. 

McGEE,  PATRICK,  enlisted  February  14,  1862;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  taken 
prisoner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  February  25,  1865;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865. 

McGiNLEY,  JOHN  O.,  enlisted  February  14,  1862;  discharged  October  18,  1864. 

McG'iNNis,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilder 
ness  May  6,  1864;  sent  to  hospital;  returned  to  duty  February  15,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Pain  Point,  Ogle  Co., 

.      111. 

MCKEWEN,  PATRICK,  alias  Patrick  Mallon,  substitute ;  enrolled  December  21, 
1864;  residence,  No.  2104  N.  Third  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

McNiCHOLS,  THEO.,  enlisted  March  8,  1864;  taken  prisoner  July  30,  1864;  con 
fined  in  prison  at  Danville,  Va.,  until  February  21,  1865;  rejoined  company 
for  duty  June  3,  1865 ;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865 ;  address,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

O'NEiL,  DANIEL  W.,  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 
wounded  July  30,  1864;  sent  to  hospital;  returned  to  duty;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  No.  386  Pratt  Street,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

PECK,  GEORGE  M.,  enlisted  February  24,  1864 ;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864 ; 
confined  in  Salisbury  prison,  N.  C.,  until  February  25,  1865;  in  hospital  at 
Annapolis,  Md.,  until  discharged  at  close  of  war. 


462     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

FLETCHER,  EMANUEL,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  wounded  July  21,  18G4 ;  dis 
charged  October  21,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  November 
12,  1897. 

REABER,  WILLIAM  A.,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 
taken  prisoner  at  the  Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  confined  in  Andersonville 
prison,  Ga. ;  died  of  starvation  and  exposure  February  28,  1865. 

REED,  JOHN  H.,  substitute;  enrolled  June  13,   1864;  .residence,   Bellefonte,    Pa. 

RICHARDS,  WILLIAM  G.,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  detailed  as  teamster  Sep 
tember  12,  1862;  sent  to  hospital  December  2,  1862;  deserted  at  Battle 
June  1,  1863;  arrested  and  returned  to  regiment  with  sentence  with  loss 
of  pay  from  June  1,  1863,  to  December  26,  1864,  and  serve  time  18  months 
and  26  days  with  $8.00  a  month  to  be  deducted  off  his  pay  until  expiration 
of  term  of  service;  died  February  24,  1885. 

RIDDLE,  MATHEW,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  sent  to  hospital  September  12, 
1862;  discharged  December  11,  1862. 

ROBINSON,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  September  13,  1862;  transferred  from  Company 
B  April  14,  1864;  taken  prisoner  July  30,  1864;  died  in  prison  of  starvation 
March  8,  1865,  at  Danville,  Va. 

ROBINSON,  JOHN  HART,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 
died  while  on  veteran  furlough  while  at  home  of  smallpox  March  1,  1864. 

SANDS,  HENRY  D.,  enlisted  February  21,  1864;  wounded  May  6,  1864;  while  not 
in  hospital  was  connected  with  Commissary  Department ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Reading,  Pa. 

SEBERT,  HARMAN,  subsitute,  enrolled  December  21,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Everson,  Wash. 

SCHEIMAN,  PAUL,  substitute,  enrolled  December  21,  1864;  severely  wounded  in 
battle  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865;  sent  to  hospital. 

SHENCK,  DANIEL  W.,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  company  cook  from  December 
9,  1864,  to  May  3,  1865;  in  brigade  commissary  May  4,  1865,  to  July  17,  1865, 
expiration  of  term  of  service ;  residence,  No.  135  South  Locust  Street, 
Hagerstown,  Md. 

SCHMIDT,  FREDERICK,  drafted  November  11,  1864;  died  October  8,  1893. 

SCHMIDT,  PETER,  substitute,  enrolled  December  1,  1864;  deserted  near  Alexan 
dria,  Va.,  May  30,  1865 ;  died  October  8,  1895. 

SHERFFLER,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 
wounded  June  3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died 
June  19,  1890. 

SHEWY,  ANDREW,  enlisted  February  2,  1864  ;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864 ;  sent  to  hospital ;  returned  to  duty  September  10 ;  sent  to  hospital  Sep 
tember  17,  1864;  mustered  out  July  3,  1865. 

SHIRK,  JAMES  A.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  taken  prisoner  June  7,  1864,  at 
Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  while  on  skirmish  line;  died  of  starvation  in  Salisbury 
prison,  N.  C.,  February  21,  1865. 

SIMMONS,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  sent  to  hospital  August  5,  1862; 
received  notice  of  discharge  April  22,  1863;  reported  for  duty  February 
28,  1864;  taken  prisoner  May  12,  1864;  discharged  February  2,  1865;  died 
March  20,  1895. 

SMITH,  BENJAMIN  F.,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  30, 
1864  ;  residence,  Youngsville,  Warren  County,  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  D  463 

SMITH,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  from  Company  B;  re- 
enlisted  January  1,  1864;  wounded  with  loss  of  arm  at  Bethseda  Church, 
Va.,  June  3,  1864;  discharged  November  14,  1864;  died  April  23,  1909,  at 
Bellefonte,  Pa. 

SPOTTS,  PHILIP  B.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862;  died  in  Antietam  Field  Hospital  October  3,  1862;  buried 
in  National  Cemetery  at  Antietam. 

STEPHENSON,  THEODORE,  enlisted  September  21,  1862 ;  transferred  from  Com 
pany  B;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  killed  in  action  September  30,  1864. 

STIFFLE,  JOHN,  enlisted  October  8,  1861 ;  sent  to  hospital  at  Newport  News,  Va., 
July  24,  1862;  died  in  hospital  August  9,  1862. 

STRAWCUTTER,  ANDREW  J.,  enlisted  September  15,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864 ;  wounded  June  3,  1864,  at  Bethesda  Church,  Va. ;  discharged  on  account 
of  wounds  February  18,  1865. 

STRAWCUTTER,  DANIEL,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  died  of  typhoid  fever  in 
hospital  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  January  8,  1862. 

SWANK,  JOHN,  drafted  September  21,  1864;  discharged  May  17,  1865;  died  June 
4,  1900. 

SWARD,  WINDAL,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  from  Company  B ;  re- 
enlisted  January  1,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

SWARTZ,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 
wounded  at  Battle  of  Bethesda  Church,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  sent  to  hospital; 
discharged  June  22,  1865;  residence,  Bushnell,  111. 

SWISHER,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  discharged  on  account  of  dis 
ability  February  23,  1864;  residence,  Philipsburg,  Pa. 

THOMAS,  NAPOLEON  B.,  enlisted  Septemmer  15,  1861 ;  died  of  convulsions  March 
2,  1862,  at  Sea  Brook  Landing,  Hilton  Head  Island,  S.  C. 

THOMPSON,  DAVID  J.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  sent  to  hospital  September  2, 
1862;  discharged  February  25,  1863,  on  account  of  disability;  residence, 
Howard,  Center  County,  Pa. 

THOMPSON,  NATHAN  J.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  died  March  22,  1862,  while 
home  on  furlough. 

WALTERS,  ABRAM,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  taken  prisoner  at  Cold  Harbor, 
Va.,  June  9,  1864 ;  sent  to  Andersonville  prison,  Ga. ;  died  of  starvation 
and  exposure  October  18,  1864. 

WANTZ,  AMOS,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  taken  prisoner  July  30,  1864;  died 
of  starvation  in  prison  at  Danville,  Va.,  November  1,  1864. 

WATSON,  WILLIAM  S.,  drafted  November  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

WEAVER,  JOHN  W.,  enlisted  February  2,  1864;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  resi 
dence,  Olean,  N.  Y. 

WEISS,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  1,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

WELLINGTON,  WILSON  W.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864 ;  killed  on  skirmish  line  July  13,  1864,  in  front  of  the  "Crater"  at  Peters 
burg,  Va. 

WHITLOCK,  THOS.  B.,  enlisted  September  15,  1864;  wounded  in  Battle  of  South 
Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  sent  to  hospital  and  discharged  from 
service;  living,  insane. 


464     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

WILLIAMS,  EDWARD,  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  wounded  and  taken  prisoner  Sep 
tember  30,  1864;  paroled  October  15,  1865;  sent  to  Invalid  Corps  February 
25,  1865. 

WILLIAMS,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  went  to  hospital  October  25, 
1862;  discharged  at  Convalescent  Camp,  Alexandria,  Va.,  July  31,  1863,  on 
account  of  disability. 

WILLIAMS,  LAWRENCE,  enlisted  March  27,  1862;  died  in  hospital  at  Hickman 
Bridge,  Ky.,  October  5,  1863. 

WILLIAMS,  MARK,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  wounded  September  14,  1863;  sent 
to  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  and  died  of  disease  in  hospital  December  21,  1863. 

WILLIAMS,  THADDEUS  S.,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  Feb 
ruary  25,  1865;  discharged  June  21,  1865;  dead. 

WILLIAMS,  WILLIAM  S.,  enlisted  September  15,  1861;  wounded  September  14, 
1863 ;  sent  to  hospital  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.  ;  residence,  Julian,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

WILSON,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  sent  to  hospital  from  Brookes 
Station,  Va.,  August  28,  1862;  discharged  January  12,  1863. 

YARRINGTON,  ABLE  A.  (M.  D.),  enlisted  March  25,  1862;  appointed  clerk  in  the 
adjutant's  office  October  1,  1862,  to  January  1,  1864;  detailed  as  clerk  for 
Medical  Director  March  9,  1864 ;  discharged  at  expiration  of  term  of  service 
March  25,  1865 ;  died,  date  unknown. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  E 

COMPILED  BY  FIRST  SERGEANT  W.   H.  MUSSER 

COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS 
HENRY  STEVENS,  "Father  of  Company  E,"  captain;  enlisted  September  2,  1861; 

resigned  November  28,  1861,  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  on  account  of  physical 

disability ;  died  at  his  home  at  Center  Line,  Center  Co.,   Pa.,  September  30, 

1903 ;  buried  at  Center  Line  Lutheran  Cemetery. 
JOHN  O.  CAMPBELL,  captain;   enlisted   September  2,   1861;    promoted    from   first 

lieutenant  November  28,  1861 ;  died  May  7,  1864,  from  wounds  received  May 

6,  1864,  at  Battle  of  Wilderness ;  burying  place  unknown. 
JOHN    BECK,  captain ;   enlisted   September  2,   1861 ;   promoted    from    sergeant   to 

first  lieutenant  November  28,   1861;  prisoner  of  war  for   some  time  during 

1864-65;    promoted    to   captain    May   7,    1864;    mustered   out   with    company 

July  17,  1865 ;  died  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kans.,  about  1890. 
AMOS  W.   HARPER,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;   promoted  from 

sergeant   November  24,   1864;    mustered   out   with   company  July    17,    1865; 

died  at  St.  Petersburg,  Fla.,  February  24,  1905;  buried  at  Philipsburg,  Pa. 
JOHN  IRVIN,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  lost  a  foot  at  Battle  of 

Spottsylvania,  Va.,  May  18,  1864 ;  discharged  January  18,  1865,  on  account  of 

disability;  died  at  his  home  at  Pennsylvania  Furnace,  Center  Co.,  Pa.,  some 

years  after  the  war. 
ARMSTRONG  S.  BAILEY,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted 

from  first  sergeant  April  22,  1865;  prisoner  of  war  for   some  time  during 

1864-65;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Cooston,  Ore. 


Captain  Henry  Stevens 
Company  E 


Roster  of  Company  E  465 


NON-COMMISSIONED   OFFICERS 

WM.  H.  MUSSER,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  September  11,  1861;  promoted  to  first 
corporal  November  20,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant  November  25,  1864;  to 
first  sergeant  May  1,  1865;  served  also  in  Company  H,  Seventh  Regiment, 
for  three  months  from  April  20  to  July  18,  1861;  wounded  at  Battle  of 
South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  residence,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

JOSEPH  G.  BAILEY,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  from  cor 
poral  June  1,  1864 ;  prisoner  of  war  for  some  time  during  1864-65 ;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  June  17, 1911  at  Fort  Scott,  Kansas. 

GEORGE  W.  LONER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant 
May  1,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  Storms- 
town,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

WILLIAM  BELL,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  from  corporal 
May  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  at  Rock 
Springs,  Pa.,  February  — ,  1866;  buried  at  Graysville,  Huntingdon  Co.,  Pa. 

HENRY  IRVIN,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  from  corporal 
May  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence  No.  2603 
Sixth  Avenue,  Altoona,  Pa. 

JOSEPH  REIGLE,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  color  bearer  of  the  regi 
ment;  discharged  on  account  of  disability  June  19,  1865;  died  in  Altoona, 
Pa.,  about  1895. 

WILLIAM  S.  KOONS,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  lost  in  battle  Sep 
tember  30,  1864;  supposed  to  have  been  killed,  nothing  having  been  heard 
from  him  since  that  date. 

HOMER  S.  THOMPSON,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  ser 
geant  in  the  Fall  of  1864;  promoted  to  sergeant  major  of  the  regiment 
February  8,  1865 ;  died  in  1909,  March  2. 

GEORGE  W.  MURPHY,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  October 
20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  many  years  ago  at  Storms- 
town,  Pa. 

THOMAS  B.  MCWILLIAMS,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  killed  at  the 
Battle  of  Antietam,  September  17,  1862. 

WM.  H.  POORMAN,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
May  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  wounded  May  6, 
1864;  residence,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

JOHN  CALDERWOOD,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  account 
of  disability  November  18,  1862;  died  many  years  ago. 

PERRY  CUPP,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  May  1, 
1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Warriors  Mark, 
Huntingdon  Co.,  Pa. 

JOSEPH  B.  MERRIMAN,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  May  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  Feb 
ruary  16,  1910,  at  Bald  Eagle  Station,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

JOHN  GRAHAM,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  May 
1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  P.  O.  box  614,  Los  An 
geles,  Calif. 


466     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

THEOPHILUS  BRATTON,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence, 
Trenton,  Grundy  Co.,  Mo. 

JOHN  GILES,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  June  8,  1865; 
residence,  Petersburg,  Pa. 

JOHN  L.  KRIDER,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  February  24, 
1865,  on  account  of  disability;  died  September  7,  1902. 

WM.  H.  BUCK,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  killed  at  Battle  of  Wilder 
ness,  May  6,  1864;  buried  at  Wilderness  burial  grounds. 

JOHN  CAMPBELL,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  killed  by  Rebel  coward 
July  30,  1864,  at  the  "Crater,"  after  he  had  surrendered;  following  day  re 
ceived  commission  in  the  U.  S.  Colored  troops  as  captain. 

HENRY  ELLENBARGER,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  supposed  to  have 
been  killed  at  Battle  of  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864, 
nothing  having  been  heard  of  him  since. 

JOSHUA  A.  HURST,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  killed  at  battle  of  Cold 
Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

JAMES  M.  RANKIN,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  wounded  and  cap 
tured  July  30,  1864,  at  the  battle  of  "Crater;"  died  July  31,  1864,  at  Rich 
mond,  Va. 

JOHN  WARD,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  died  in  hospital  at  Crab 
Orchard,  Ky.;  October  1,  1863. 

JOHN  BELL,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  killed  at  Battle  of  South 
Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862. 

HARRY  SCHALL,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  wounded  at  Battle  of 
South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862 ;  died  of  wounds  November  8,  1862. 

JOSHUA  R.  PHEASANT,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  for  dis 
ability  December  10,  1862;  reenlisted  February  26,  1864;  wounded  at  Battle 
of  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ; 
residence,  Mt.  Eagle,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

FREDERICK  H.  WESTON,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  29,  1864 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  May  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date 
unknown. 

JOHN  G.  Goss,  corporal;  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June 
8,  1865 ;  wounded  April  2,  1865,  at  Petersburg,  Va. ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  died  May  12,  1898,  at  Osceola,  Clearfield  Co.,  Pa. 

JOHN  S.  McCuRDY,  corporal;  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal 
June  19,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  No. 
522  Fourth  Avenue,  Altoona,  Pa. 

RICHARD  BAILEY,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  died  October  18,  1863,  of 
wounds  received  at  Battle  of  Blue  Springs,  Tenn.,  October  10,  1863;  buried 
in  Soldiers'  Cemetery,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

JOHN  G.  HEBERLING,  corporal;  one  of  the  color  guards;  seriously  wounded 
September  30,  1864,  at  Battle  of  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va. ;  taken  prisoner 
and  paroled  from  hospital  at  Richmond,  Va.,  November  20,  1864;  trans 
ferred  to  invalid  corps  January  21,  1865 ;  discharged  July  30,  1865,  at  Platts- 
burg  N.  Y.;  died  July  2,  1911,  at  Pine  Grove  Mills,  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  E  467 


WM.  OSMAN,  musician;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  residence,  Waverly,  Tenn. 

WM.  A.  JACKSON,  musician ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  at  Philipsburg,  Pa.,  December  12,  1909. 

PRIVATES. 
ALLEN,  DAVID  B.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864,  at 

Battle  of  Poplar  Springs   Church,  Va. ;   prisoner  at   Salisbury,   N.    C. ;    dis 
charged  by  general  order  May  29,  1865 ;  residence,  near  Milesburg,  Center 

Co,   Pa. 
ALLEY,   WM.,    enlisted    March    11,    1864;    mustered   out   with    company   July    17, 

1865;  residence,  Bellwood,  Blair  Co.,  Pa. 
AMEIGH,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,   1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 

September    14,    1862;    discharged   by    general    order    February   14,    1863,    on 

surgeon's  certificate;  died  July  25,  1888. 
ARNOLD,  JOSEPH  E.,  enlisted  February  24,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;  residence,  Crisfield,  Harper  Co.,  Kans. 

ARTHUR,  WM.  J,  substitute,  enrolled  January  4,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Arcadia,  Okla. 

BAILEY,  ALFRED,  enlisted  September  2,   1861;  died  November  24,  1861. 
BAILEY,   ISAAC,   enlisted   September  2,   1861 ;   discharged  on   surgeon's   certificate 

February  16,  1862. 
BAILEY,  JAMES  M.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Novem- 

vember  3,  1863. 
BARTOE,   HENRY,   enlisted  September  2,   1861 ;   mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,    1865;    residence,    Pennsylvania    Furnace,    Center    Co.,    Pa. 
BATEMAN,  JOSEPH   P.,  enlisted  September  2,   1861 ;    discharged  by  general  order 

May  29,   1865;  residence,   Tyrone,   Pa. 
BATEMAN,  WM.  H.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  died  in  hospital  at  Washington, 

D.   C.,   June   15,    1864,  of   wounds   received   at  the   Battle   of  Cold   Harbor, 

June  3,   1864. 
BATHURST,  ANTIS,  enlisted  June  12,  1863;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps, 

date  unknown. 
BECK,    JACOB,    enlisted    September    2,    1861 ;    discharged    on    surgeon's    certificate 

April  11,  1862;  died  at  Center  Line,  Pa.,  April  23,  1896. 
BENN,  SAMUEL  H.,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  died  in  hospital  at  Washington, 

D.  C.,  June  14,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at  Battle  of  Wilderness,   May  6, 

1864. 
BLACK,  GEO.  W.,  enlisted  February  23,   1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;  residence,  Williamsburg,  Blair  Co.,  Pa. 
BODLE,   SAMUEL,   enlisted   September  2,   1861;    discharged  October   20,    1864,    at 

expiration  of  term  of  service ;   died  August  20,   1897. 
BRADLEY,  JAMES,  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 

1865. 
BRANSTETLER,  SYLVESTER,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;   died  at  Second  Division, 

Ninth  Corps  hospital  in  Tennessee,  August  6,    1864. 
BRESSLER,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  mustered  out  of  service  Septem- 

tember  14,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  residence,  Mapleton,  Mon- 

ona  Co.,  la. 


468     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

BROWNLEE,  CHAS.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  First  Regiment,  U. 
S.  Cavalry,  November  13,  1862. 

BUCK,  IRA,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

CAMPBELL,  WM.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  died  May  7,  1864,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  6,  1864. 

CARROLL,  JOHN,  subsitute,  enrolled  January  5,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

CARTWRIGHT,  CHAS.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  taken  prisoner  at  Poplar  Grove 
Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864 ;  died  in  prison  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  Decem 
ber  24,  1864. 

CHASE,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
April  1,  1865;  died  at  Pine  Grove  Mills,  Pa.,  September  3,  1891. 

CONNOR,  JAMES,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

Cox,  AUGUSTUS  H.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  at  Bellefonte,  Pa.,  January  9,  1892. 

Cox,  MARSHALL,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
May  29,  1865 ;  died  February  8,  1892. 

COYLE,  JAMES,  substitute,  enrolled  July  29,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

CRAMER,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  July  6,  1864,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

CHRONISTER,  JOHN  D.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  September  25,  1862,  of 
wounds  received  at  Battle  of  South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862; 
buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  Sec.  26,  Lot  C,  Grave  3371 

CHRONISTER,  STEWART,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  drowned  April  16,  1862,  in 
South  Carolina,  while  bathing. 

DAVIS,  JAMES  C.,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  residence,  Wabash,  Ind. 

DENNIS,  JAMES  I.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order  May 
29,  1865;  residence,  Wigton,  Clearfield  Co.,  Pa. 

DETER,  GEORGE  C.,  enlisted  February  17,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
June  15,  1865 ;  residence,  Greysville,  Pa. 

DETER,  WM.,  enlisted  March  11,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865; 
residence,  Buffalo,  Wyoming. 

DEVORE,  JESSE,  enlisted  March  5,  1864;  died  June  9,  1864,  of  wounds  received 
at  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

DITZWORTH,  HIRAM  G.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  First  Regi 
ment  U.  S.  Cavalry,  date  unknown. 

DUGAN,  PAUL,  substitute,  enrolled  January  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  residence,  Cementon,  Lehigh  Co.,  Pa. 

DUNLAP,  BENJAMIN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  April  11,  1862. 

ELLENBARGER,  CHRISTIAN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  February  16,  1862 ;  died  at  Port  Matilda,  Pa.,  September  20,  1902. 

ELLENBARGER,  WM.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865 ;  died  May  23,  1908 ;  buried  in  Ross  Cemetery  near  Gatesburg,  Center 
Co.,  Pa. 


W.  H.  Fry 

Company    E 


Roster  of  Company  E  469 

EWING,  JEREMIAH,  enlisted  March  11,  1864;  wounded  two  different  times  and 
discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  May  29,  1865;  died  at  Charter  Oak, 
Huntingdon  Co.,  Pa.,  April  23,  1905. 

EWING,  ROBERT,  enlisted  February  16,  1864 ;  killed  at  the  battle  of  Poplar  Springs 
Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864. 

EVER,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilderness 
arid  captured  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va. ;  prisoner  of  war  nine  months ; 
absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;  died  near  Charter  Oak,  la. 

FISHER,  SEBASTIAN,  drafted  September  22,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order 
June  8,  1865;  died  at  Pine  Glen,  Center  Co.,  Pa.,  date  unknown. 

FLANAGAN,  MICHAEL,  substitute,  enrolled  January  2,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

FLORA,  JESSE  A.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864,  at 
Poplar  Grove  Church,  Va. ;  died  at  Millen,  Ga.,  October  29,  1864;  buried 
in  Sec.  A,  Grave  311. 

FORCE,  JEFFERSON,  drafted  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865 ;  died  at  Pine  Glen,  Center  Co.,  Pa.,  October  20,  1910.( 

FOSTENBURY,  GEORGE,  substitute,  enrolled  December  21,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  died  December  29,  1901. 

FRY,  JONAS,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  died  July  31,  1864;  buried  at  Alexan 
dria,  Va.,  Grave  2483. 

FRY,  WM.  H.,  enlisted  October  17,  1861;  wounded  at  the  battle  of  South 
Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
April  24,  1863;  residence,  near  Pine  Grove  Mills,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

FULLER,  GEO.  F.,  drafted  November  13,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865. 

FUNK,  HENRY  P.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  November  26,  1863,  from 
wounds  received  in  action  November  16,  1863,  at  battle  of  Campbells  Sta 
tion,  Tenn. ;  buried  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Grave  58. 

GATES,  CALEB,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  December  6,  1863,  of  wounds 
received  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  November  27,  1863. 

GEARHART,  WM.,  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  captured  at  battle  of  Poplar  Springs 
Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  December  10, 
1864. 

GILLILAND,  JOHN,  drafted  November  22,  1864;  residence,  East  Waterford, 
Juniata  Co.,  Pa. 

GLENN,  WM.  B.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  captured  at  Poplar  Springs 
Church,  Va.;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  December  10,  1864. 

GOLDMAN,  NOAH  S.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  November  12,  1862;  died  -  — ,  1910. 

Goss,  LLOYD,  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
April  1,  1864;  residence,  Bellwood,  Pa. 

HALDERMAN,  REUBEN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  killed  at  Battle  of  the  Wilder 
ness  May  6,  1864;  buried  in  Wilderness  burial  grounds. 

HARPSTER,  DANIEL  B.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  captured  September  30,  1864, 
aTbattle  of  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va. ;  died  at  Salisbury  prison,  N.  C, 
February  9,  1865. 


4/o 


Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


HOFFMAN,  JOHN  A.,  drafted  September  19,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order 
June  8,  1865. 

HOOD,  FRANCIS,  substitute,  enrolled  January  4,  1865;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

HUNTER,  WM.,  enlisted  February  24,  1864;  killed  at  Battle  of  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864 ;  buried  in  Wilderness  burial  grounds.  • 

HUTCHINSON,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  February  29,   1864;  absent,   sick,  at  muster  out. 

IRVIN,  ANDREW,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  died  at  Belleville,  Mifflin  Co.,  Pa.,  November  3,  1906. 

JOHNSON,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  June  16,  1863. 

JOHNSTON,  A.  W.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  killed  at  Battle  of  Wildierness 
May  6,  1864;  buried  in  Wilderness  burial  grounds. 

KAUFFMAN,  JACOB  C.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Re 
serve  Corps  November  16,  1863. 

KAUFFMAN,  JACOB  E.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  captured,  date  unknown;  died 
at  Andersonville  prison,  Ga.,  September  17,  1864;  Grave  8999. 

KAUFFMAN,  SAMUEL  D.,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  captured,  date  unknown; 
died  at  Andersonville  prison,  Ga.,  July  30,  1864;  Grave  4293. 

KELLY,  JEROME  B.,  substitute,  enrolled  September  20,  1864 ;  wounded  in  front 
of  Petersburg,  Va.,  January  10,  1865;  sent  to  hospital;  discharged  by  gen 
eral  order  May  19,  1865;  residence,  Ariel,  Wayne  Co.,  Pa. 

KENNEDY,  DAVID  A.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  at  Cumberland,  Md.,  date  unknown. 

KRIDER,  HENRY  H.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  January  22,  1863;  died  October  17,  1900. 

KRIDER,  JOSIAH,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  December  1,  1863,  of  wounds 
received  November  16,  1863,  at  battle  of  Campbells  Station,  Tenn. 

KRIDER,  MICHAEL  W.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  killed  at  the  battle  of  Cold 
Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

KRIDER,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term  of  service;  residence,  Windber,  Somerset  Co.,  Pa. 

LAGO,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  G,  1862;  dead. 

LEMON,  JOHN  R.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps  January  1,  1865;  residence,  Gatesburg,  Center  Co.,  Pa. 

LIGHTNER,  DAVID,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  of  wounds  received  at  the 
battle  of  South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  buried  in  National 
Cemetery  at  Antietam,  Sec.  26,  Lot  D,  Grave  341. 

LINGLE,  GEO.  W.,  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  died  May  4,  1865,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865. 

LINGLE,  THOS.  M.,  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps  January  1,  1865;  residence,  Shawville,  Clearfield  Co.,  Pa. 

LOCKARD,  THOMAS,  drafted  June  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

LOTT,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
April  22,  1862. 


COMPANY  E 


David  Love 
1862 


David  Love 
1909 


William  Ellenberger 


G.  M.  Marks 


Roster  of  Company  E  471 


LOVE,  DAVID,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  seriously  wounded  on  picket  line  in 
front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  January  — ,  1865;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  May  29,  1865 ;  died  at  Bellefonte  April  23,  1911. 

LYNCH,  LEANDER  S.,  substitute,  enrolled  September  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

MCCARDLE,  JEFFERSON,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  residence,  Burnham,  Mifflin  Co.,  Pa. 

MCCLELLEN,  WM.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  drowned  at  Fredericksburg,  Va., 
January  9,  1863. 

MARKS,  GEO.  M.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  February  20,  1863;  residence,  Port  Matilda,  Pa. 

MAYES,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  wounded  at  battle  of  South  Moun 
tain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  December 
15,  1862;  died  November  22,  1911. 

MAYES,  THOMAS  A.,  enlisted  September  28,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order 
June  8,  1865;  died  at  Philipsburg,  Pa.,  about  1906. 

MEADE,  GEORGE,  substitute,  enrolled  December  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

MERRIMAN,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  February  14,  1863;  died  April  16,  1909. 

MILLER,  CAMPBELL,  drafted,  enrolled  September  21,  1864;  discharged  June  8, 
1865,  by  special  order;  died  at  Cumberland,  Md.,  January  21,  1910. 

MILLER,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  residence,  No.  2018  Eighth  Avenue,  Altoona,  Pa. 

MILLER,  PENROSE,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865. 

MILLER,  ROBERT,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

MILLER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  died  at  Camp  Nelson,  Ky.,  Octo 
ber  1,  1863. 

MINGLE,  GEORGE,  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  died  May  5,  1865,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865;  buried  at  Alexandria.,  Grave  3115. 

MITCHELL,  ALFRED,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

MONSEL,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  of  disease  at  Newport  News, 
Va.,  July  23,  1864. 

MOORE,  WM.,  enlisted  March  10,  1864;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out. 

MURPHY,  HARRISON,  drafted  June  29,  1864;  deserted  May  24,  1865. 

MURPHY,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  National  Military  Home,  Ohio. 

MYERS,  JOSEPH  W.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  June  10,  1865;  residence,  West  Decatur,  Clearfield  Co.,  Pa. 

MYERS,  SAMUEL  H.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  captured  at  battle  of  Poplar 
Springs  Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salisbury  prison,  N.  G, 
February  15,  1865. 

MYRON,  BENJAMIN,  substitute,  enrolled  January  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

NORMAN,  GEORGE  T.,  enlisted  January  4,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order 
June  19,  1865. 


47^     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

PETERS,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
of  disability  October  7,  1861. 

PIERCE,  ISAAC  T.,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order  June 
6,  1865. 

PIERY,  JOHN  C,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va., 
January  1,  1862. 

POORMAN,  WM.  A.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  residence,  DuBois,  Pa. 

PRICE,  THOMAS,  drafted  September  28,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order  June 
1  H;i865;  died  October  1,  1901. 

RAMSBARGER,  JOHN,  drafted  November  13,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  May  29,  1865;  died  February  23,  1898. 

RAY,  DAVID,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  sent  to  hospital  in  summer  of  1864; 
died  on  hospital  steamer  September  1,  1864;  buried  at  sea. 

RIDER,  JOHN  G.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  April  23,  1862;  died  at  Gatesburg,  Pa.,  June  8,  1898. 

RIDER,  JOHN  W.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  July  10,  1862;  died  at  Gatesburg,  Pa.,  May  22,  1896. 

RIDER,  MICHAEL  C.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  several  years  ago  in  Kansas. 

RILEY,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

ROACH,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  March  11,  1864;  killed  in  Battle  of  Wilderness, 
May  6,  1864. 

ROBINSON,  WILLIAM,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

RYAN,  DENNIS,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  captured  September  30,  1864,  at 
battle  of  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va. ;  died  in  Salisbury  prison,  N.  C.,  Feb- 
•ruary  12,  1865. 

SCHMOCK,  HERMAN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  21,  1864;  deserted  May  20, 
1365. 

SHEARER,  ABRAHAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;   died  January  15,  1865. 

SIMS,  JOHN  T.,  enlisted  February  8,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
IT,  1865;  residence,  Tyrone,  Pa. 

SIMS,  WESLEY,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn,  January 
16,  1864;  Grave  85,  U.  S.  Government  Cemetery. 

SMITH,  DAVID,  drafted  June  4,  1864 ;  deserted  June  15,  1865. 

SUMMERS,  JACOB,  substitute,  enrolled  December  19,  1864-  deserted  May  23, 
1865. 

TAYLOR,   JAMES  H.,   drafted   November  28,   1864;   mustered  out  with   company 

July  17,  1865;  died  at  Hancock,  Md.,  March  29,  1910. 
THOMPSON,  WM.  H.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  at  Fredericksburg,  Va., 

May  8,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 
TWADDLE,  JAMES,  drafted  June  28,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 

1865. 

ULRICH,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  at  Middletown,  Md.,   October 

L862,  of  wound   received  at   battle   of   South  Mountain    September   14, 

1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery  at  Antietam,  Sec.  26,  Lot  A,  Grave  333. 


Roster  of  Company  F  473 


VAN  DYKE,  BENJAMIN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran 
Reserve  Corps,  date  unknown. 

VOSBURG,  JOSEPH  B.,  enlisted  March  22,  1864;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilder 
ness,  May  6,  1864,  with  loss  of  right  arm ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  March  16,  1865. 

WAY,  DANIEL  W.,  enlisted  February  24,  1864 ;  killed  in  battle  at  Petersburg,  Va., 
June  18,  1864. 

WAY,  JACOB  E.,  enlisted  February  24,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
May  18,  1865;  died  December  19,  1899,  from  effects  of  wound  in  right 
arm;  buried  in  cemetery  near  Stormstown,  Pa. 

WESTON,  FRANCIS  A.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  at  Camp  Casey,  Md., 
November  13,  1861. 

WESTON,  GEO.  W.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  wounded  at  battle  of  Spottsyl- 
vania  Court  House  May  12,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  Janu 
ary  1,  1865;  died  February  16,  1889. 

WESTON,  GRAFFIUS,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  April  9,  1863 ;  died  at  Port  Matilda,  Center  Co.,  Pa.,  November  22,  1906. 

WIGFIELD,  MOSES,  drafted  July  5,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  residence,  Cheneyville,  Bedford  Co.,  Pa. 

WILSON,  ALBERT,  enlisted  February  9,  1864;  died  June  25,  1864,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  buried  in  National 
Cemetery  at  Arlington,  Va. 

WOODS,  HENRY,  substitute,  enrolled  January  4,  1865;  deserted  May  23,  1865. 

WRYE,  WM.  H.,  enlisted  February  24,  1864;  killed  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  August 
14,  1864. 

ZIEGLER,  WM.,  substitute,  enrolled  January  4,  1865 ;  taken  prisoner  in  Ft.  Mahone 
in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

•£.. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  F 

COMPILED  BY  CAPTAIN  L.  W.  LORD. 
COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

CHARLES  E.  PARKER,  captain;  enlisted  October  16,  1861;  resigned  March  24, 
1862;  died  -  — ,  1870. 

THEODORE  GREGG,  captain;  enlisted  October  27,  1861;  wounded  at  South  Moun 
tain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  promoted  from  adjutant  to  captain  March 
24,  1862;  to  lieutenant  colonel  September  29,  1864. 

ROLAND  C.  CHEESEMAN,  captain,  enlisted  August  20,  1861;  promoted  from  sec 
ond  lieutenant  Company  A  to  captain  Company  F  September  29,  1864 ;  trans 
ferred  to  Company  A  March  24,  1865. 

LAFAYETTE  W.  LORD,  captain;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
July  1,  1864;  to  first  lieutenant  September  29,  1864;  to  captain  Company  A 
December  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Company  F  March  24,  1865;  wounded 
at  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ; 
veteran ;  residence,  National  Military  Home,  Kansas. 


474     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

GEORGE  S.  REDFIELD,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  resigned  April 
14,  1862 ;  dead. 

GEORGE  P.  SCUDDER,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  October  16,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
second  lieutenant  to  first  lieutenant  April  21,  1862;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor, 
Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

JACOB  W.  MEESE,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  August  16,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
sergeant  major  to  second  lieutenant  January  31,  1865;  to  first  lieutenant 
May  21,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  resi 
dence,  No.  526  145th  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

JAMES  E.  WOODMANSEE,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  October  17,  1861;  promoted 
to  second  lieutenant  April  21,  1862;  resigned  August  1,  1862;  residence, 
Hancock,  N.  Y. 

RICHARD  HUMPHREY,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  promoted  to 
first  sergeant  April  1,  1863;  to  second  lieutenant  July  7,  1863,  (not  mus 
tered)  ;  killed  in  battle  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  July  11,  1863. 

ADOLPHUS  D.  CAMPBELL,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  pro 
moted  to  corporal  January  15,  1862;  to  sergeant  April  4,  1863;  to  first  ser 
geant  July  7,  1863;  wounded  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  July  11,  1863;  promoted  to 
second  lieutenant  June  21,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  30,  1864 ; 
discharged  December  9,  1864;  veteran;  address,  No.  373  Court  Street,  Bing- 
hamton,  N.  Y. 

WESLEY  GOULD,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  wounded  Septem 
ber  14,  1862,  at  South  Mountain,  Md. ;  wounded  September  17,  1862,  at 
Antietam;  promoted  to  corporal  April  4,  1863;  to  sergeant  July  8,  1863; 
taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865;  discharged  by 
special  order  May  29,  1865;  promoted  to  second  lieutenant  from  civil  life 
June  12,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Han 
cock,  N.  Y. ;  veteran. 


NON-COMMISSIONED    OFFICERS. 

NATHAN  D.  GUILD,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to 
first  sergeant  April  21,  1862;  wounded  September  14,  1862;  died  April  12, 
1864;  body  sent  home. 

ZEPHANIAH  WORDEN,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  5,  1861 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  April  17,  1863;  to  sergeant  July  18,  1863;  wounded  October  10,  1863, 
at  Blue  Springs,  Tenn. ;  promoted  to  first  sergeant  May  1,  1865;  veteran; 
residence,  No.  2716  Ellis  Street,  Bellingham,  Wash. 

GILBERT  VANDUSEN,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  October  11,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  July  14,  1862;  to  sergeant  June  12,  1864;  wounded  July  30,  1864,  at 
Petersburg,  Va. ;  discharged  April  13,  1865;  veteran;  died  February  1,  1908. 

WILLIAM  NEER,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  3,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
August  20,  1863;  wounded  July  25,  1864,  at  Petersburg,  Va. ;  promoted  to 
sergeant  May  1,  1865;  veteran;  residence,  West  Fulton,  New  York. 

JONAS  KILBURN,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  16,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
August  20,  1863;  wounded  May  6,  1864,  at  Battle  of  Wilderness;  promoted 
to  sergeant  May  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran; 
unknown. 


COMPANY  F 


Capt.  L.  W.  Lord 
1864 


Capt.  L.  W.  Lord 
August,    1910 


First  Lieut.  Geo.  P.  Scudder 
Killed  June  3,  1864 


First  Sergt.  Zephaniah  Worden 


Roster  of  Company  F  475 


JOHN  HUGHES,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  3,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  address, 
National  Soldiers'  Home,  Tenn. 

GEORGE  PALMER,  enlisted  October  16,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  September  1, 
1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865;  promoted 
to  sergeant  June  1,  1865 ;  veteran ;  unknown. 

JACOB  T.  BRAZIE,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 

April  17, ;  sergeant  July  18,  1863;  wounded  at  Battle  of  Wilderness 

May  6,  1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865; 
discharged  by  general  order  May  29,  1865 ;  veteran ;  residence,  Cadosia, 
Delaware  Co.,  N.  Y. 

JOHN  H.  BUSH,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
May  1,  1862 ;  to  sergeant  June  10,  1864 ;  wounded  July  25,  1864 ;  discharged 
by  general  order  May  29,  1865;  veteran;  Windsor,  N.  Y.  (R.  F.  D.) 

FRANCIS  SEELEY,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
July  15,  1863;  wounded  June  3,  1864,  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va. ;  promoted  to 
sergeant  June  12,  1864 ;  killed  July  30,  1864,  at  Petersburg,  Va. ;  veteran. 

LEWIS  F.  HILL,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  8,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
October  22,  1862;  to  sergeant  April  20,  1863;  wounded  July  11,  1863,  at 
Jackson,  Miss. ;  died  July  14,  1863. 

LOREN  A.  WEBSTER,  -  -— ;  promoted  to  corporal  July  14,  1862;  wounded  Sep 
tember  17,  1862;  discharged  December  13,  1862;  unknown. 

WHEELER  O.  MERRICK,  enlisted  September  19,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal  May 
18,  1863;  wounded  June  3,  1864,  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  July  30,  1864,  at 
Petersburg,  Va. ;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out;  veteran;  died  July 
23,  1906. 

JOHN  D.  PALMER,  corporal;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  wounded  May  7,  1864, 
at  Wilderness ;  promoted  to  corporal  October  1,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  died  September  30,  1908. 

CHARLES  FEROW,  corporal;  enlisted  March  28,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  March 
1,  1865;  wounded  April  2,  1865,  at  Petersburg,  Va. ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  address,  Equinunk,  Pa. 

THOMAS  R.  BENNER,  corporal;  enlisted  March  9,  1864;  wounded  April  2,  1865; 
promoted  to  corporal  May  1,  1865;  died  December  3,  1898. 

JOHN  TEEPLE,  corporal;  enlisted  March  28,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1, 
1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  address,  Equinunk,  Pa. 

JAMES  DUNCAN,  corporal;  enlisted  January  29,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal 
June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865. 

WILLIAM  YOUNG,  corporal;  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  wounded  May  6,  1864, 
at  Wilderness,  August  19,  1864,  and  April  2,  1865,  at  Petersburg,  Va. ;  pro 
moted  to  corporal  June  1,  1865;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;  died  May  6, 
1890. 

WILLIAM  H.  HAVENS,  corporal;  substitute;  enrolled  July  27,  1864;  promoted 
to  corporal  June  24,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

WILLIAM  LOVE,  corporal;  substitute;  enrolled  July  29,  1864;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  June  14,  1865;  taken  prisoner  April  2,  1865;  recaptured  April  9,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company;  address,  Lancaster,  Pa. 


476     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

NATHANIEL  BLOOM,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  November  11,  1862;  wounded  July  27,  1864;  discharged  May  29,  1865; 
veteran;  died  March  10,  1900. 

JOSEPH  HANDLONG,  corporal;  enlisted  September  28,  1861;  wounded  at  Peters 
burg,  Va.,  July  25,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  March  1,  1865;  discharged 
June  14,  1865;  veteran;  residence,  White  Haven,  Pa. 

JOHN  W.  LEWIS,  corporal;  enlisted  September  30,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran 
Reserve  Corps  January  15,  1864;  residence,  Little  Marsh,  Pa. 

ISAAC  CHAMBERLAIN,  corporal;  enlisted  September  5,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  April  23,  1863;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  died  December  27, 
1864,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. ;  veteran. 

CHARLES  H.  MONROE,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  14,  1861 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  September  1,  1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  died  February 
15,  1865,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. ;  veteran. 

GEORGE  W.  HAINES,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
April  20,  1863 ;  killed  July  30,  1864,  at  Petersburg,  Va. ;  veteran. 

EDWARD  ROBERTS,  musician;  enlisted  March  16,  1864;  appointed  drummer; 
wounded  at  Bethesda  Church,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  No.  29  Thirteenth  Street,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

JAMES  COOLEY,  musician ;  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  appointed  musician  Octo 
ber  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  residence, 
No.  506  Laurel  Avenue,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

JAMES  H.  GUILE,  musician;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  mustered  out  October 
20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  March  8,  1877. 

PRIVATES. 
ANDERSON,  SAMUEL,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;   deserted  June  16, 

1865. 
ARNOLD,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;   mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 

expiration  of  term  of  service. 

BAILEY,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  January  13,  1863. 

BAILEY,  JOHN  D.,  enlisted  March  20,  1862;  joined  company  May  7,  1862;  mus 
tered  out  March  19,  1865,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  May  21, 

1909. 
BAILEY,  LUCIEN,  enlisted  September  30,  1861;   died  December  11,   1861;  buried 

at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 
BAILEY,  REUBEN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  wounded  July  24,  1864;  died  July 

26,  1864 ;  buried  in  Ninth  Corps  Cemetery,  Meade  Station,  Va. ;  veteran. 
BALDWIN,    SOLOMON,    enlisted    February   24,    1864;    transferred    to    Fifty-fourth 

Pennsylvania  Volunteer,  June  19,  1864. 
BARNFIELD,  JOHN  F.  M,  enlisted  March  21,  1864;  wounded  May  6,  1864;  taken 

prisoner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865;  died  March  26,  1865, 

at  Baltimore,  Md. 
BARRY,  JOHN,   substitute,  enrolled  December   19,   1861;   taken  prisoner  April  2, 

1865;  recaptured  April  9,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company   at   expiration 

of  service. 
BECRAFT,  ROBERT,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  March  7,  1864,  at  his  home; 

veteran. 


Roster  of  Company  F  477 

BENNETT,  AARON,  enlisted  May  17,  1864 ;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

BIRGE,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  October  12,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order 
June  29,  1865;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;  died  November  19,  1909. 

BLOUGH,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  May  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

BOEL,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  D  Novem 
ber  1,  1862. 

BOSTICK,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  August  14,  1862;  discharged  by  general  order  May  20, 
1865 ;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out. 

BRAITHWAITE,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  July  28,  1864;  killed  in  battle  Septem 
ber  30,  1864,  at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va. 

BRAMHALL,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  23,  1864;  deserted  March  23, 
1865. 

BROWN,  AUGUSTUS  R.,  substitute,  enrolled  November  28,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865. 

BROWN,  HARVEY,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  C  Novem 
ber  1,  1862. 

BROWN,  SAMUEL,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

BRYAN,  THOMAS,  substitute,  enrolled  December  21,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

BURKHEISER,  HENRY,  enlisted  August  11,  1862;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  C. 
H.,  Va.,  May  12,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order  June  7,  1865, 

BUSH,  DANIEL,  drafted  September  21,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order  June 
7,  1865 ;  address,  Analomink,  Pa. 

BUTLER,  THOMAS  J.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  September  22,  1862;  unknown. 

BYKE,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  August  20,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  13,  1863. 

CAMPBELL,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  3,  1861;  died  August  29,  1863;  buried  in 
a  churchyard  at  Nicholasville,  Ky. 

CARL,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

CHANDLER,  JOHN  M.,  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  wounded  September  17,  1862 ; 
mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  dead,  date 
unknown. 

CHRISNER,  GEORGE  C.,  enlisted  March  7,  1864;  wounded  Ma)'  6,  1864;  trans 
ferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

CHRISNER,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  March  7,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Penn 
sylvania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

CLUNE,   JAMES,  enlisted   September  16,   1861;   deserted  April   10,    1863. 

CODDINGTON,  ELIAS,  enlisted  October  11,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  February  23,  1863;  killed  in  a  steam  mill,  -  — ,  1870. 

COLE,  ISAAC  W.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  wounded  September  14,  1862,  at 
South  Mountain,  Md. ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps ;  date  un 
known. 


4/8     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

CONKLIN,  JAMES  G.,  substitute,  enrolled  November  28,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865. 

CONWAY,  HUGH,  enlisted  August  20,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  D  Novem 
ber  1,  1862. 

Cox,  ABRAHAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  D  Novem 
ber  1,  1862. 

CRAFT,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  October  9,  1861 ;  never  joined  company. 

CRANDALL,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  April  19,  1862,  in  S.  C. 

DAVALD,  CIVILIAN,  enlisted  October  8,  1861 ;  died  July  22,  1863,  in  Mississippi. 

DAVISON,  WILLIAM,  substitute,  enrolled  December  29,  1864 ;  deserted  January  1, 
1865. 

DEAL,  JOHN,  drafted,  enrolled  December  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  April  6,  1906. 

DEMANDED  LINUS,  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  September  — ,  1910. 

DICKSON,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

DRUMMOND,  ROBERT,  enlisted  August  20,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  D  No 
vember  1,  1862. 

DUTCHER,  NATHAN,  drafted  November  21,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  December  20,  1891. 

EATON,  CHARLES,  substitute,  enrolled  December  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

EDWARDS,  JASPER  E.,  enlisted  September  27,  1861 ;  wounded  July  25,  1864 ;  mus 
tered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  unknown. 

EITLE,  FREDERICK,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  October  30,  1862. 

ELDRED,  MORRIS,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  October  20,  1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term  of  service;  died  January  20,  1889. 

FERREL,  THOMAS,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

FLYNN,  FRANCIS,  enlisted  October  1,  1861 ;  wounded  July  30,  1864 ;  taken  pris 
oner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865;  mustered  out  April  7, 
1865,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  July  11,  1911. 

FRANCIS,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  19,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  unknown. 

FRASIER,  ANDREW,  enlisted  September  19,  1861;  died  September  11,  1862. 

FRENCH,  WILLIAM  A.,  substitute,  enrolled  December  19,  1864;  deserted  January 
24,  1865. 

FULMAN,  MOKE,  substitute,  enrolled  July  27,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  April  14,  1865. 

GIFFORD,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  died  November  24,  1861,  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 

GILLOW,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  March  30,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

February  6,  1865;  died  June  10,  1899. 
Gow,  JOHN  H.,  substitute,  enrolled  December  3,   1864;  taken  prisoner  April  2, 

1865;  recaptured  April  9,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 


Roster  of  Company  F  479 

GRIFFIS,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

October  31,  1862. 
GRIFFITH,  RICHARD,  substitute,  enrolled  December  23,  1864 ;  discharged  by  special 

order  June  27,  1865;  resides  near  Liverpool,   England. 

HANNA,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 
HARTMAN,  PERCIVAL  G.,  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company 

July   17,  1865. 
HAUNTY,  JOHN,    drafted   December  8,    1864;    mustered   out   with    company  July 

17,    1865. 
HAUX,  CHARLES  F.,  substitute,  enrolled  November  29,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with 

company   July   17,    1865. 

HERMAN,  HENRY,  substitute,   enrolled  August  1,   1864;  taken  prisoner  Septem 
ber  30,  1864 ;  died  November  26,  1864,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 
HILL,  ALBRO  F.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

October  15,  1863 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 
HINTON,  JOSEPH,   enlisted  August  30,  1861 ;   discharged   on  surgeon's   certificate 

August  30,  1862. 
HOULAHAN,  WILLIAM,  substitute,  enrolled  September  23,    1863;    taken    prisoner 

April  2,   1865;   recaptured  April  9,  1865;    died  October   16,   1889. 
HOPKINS,  ANDREW^  J.,  enlisted  September  6,  1862;  killed  May  6,  1864;  buried  in 

Wilderness  burial  grounds. 
HORN,  THADDEUS,  drafted  December  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;   died   November   19,   1898. 
HOTELLING,   ELLIS   P.,   enlisted   October   9,   1861;   wounded    September  17,    1862, 

at  Antietam ;  discharged  December  30,  1862;  unknown. 
HUDSON,   CHARLES,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,   1864;   deserted   March   13, 

1865. 
HUNTLEY,  WILLIAM,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  deserted  January  1, 

1865. 
HURD,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  killed  at  battle  of  South  Mountain, 

Md.,   September  14,  1862;  buried  in  National   Cemetery,  Antietam,   Sec.   26, 

Lot  C,  Grave  297. 
JENKINS,  HOPKINS,   substitute,  enrolled  December  19,  1864;  mustered  out  with 

company  July  17,  1865. 
JONES,  GEORGE  C.,  enlisted  February  2,   1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;  address,  Tilton,  N.  H. 
KAHN,   Louis,   substitute,   enrolled  July  29,    1864;   mustered   out   with   company 

July  17,  1865. 
KAIN,  WILLIAM  H.,  substitute,  enrolled  July  29,  1864;  killed  in  battle  at  Poplar 

Springs  Church,  Va.,   September  30,   1864. 
KENNEDY,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  wounded  September  14,   1862,  at 

South   Mountain,   Md. ;   discharged  June   14,   1865,    for   wounds   received   at 

Spottsylvania  C.  H.,  Va.,  May  12,  1864 ;  veteran ;  unknown. 
KILBURN,  SOLOMON,  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  deserted  April  30,   1863. 
KLINGLER,  WILLIAM,  substitute,  enrolled  August  1,  1864 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 

certificate  June  14,  1865;  died  July  5,   1897. 


480     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  J'eteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

KRINER,  PHILIP,  drafted  December  8,  1864;  killed  in  battle  at  Petersburg,  Va., 
April  2,  1865. 

KUHNS,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Penn 
sylvania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

LASH,  JOSEPH,  drafted  November  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865 ;  died  September  — ,  1909. 

LEBOLD,  CHAS.  B.,  substitute,  enrolled  December  19,  1864;  killed  in  battle  at 
Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865. 

LECLERE,  CHARLES  L.,  substitute,  enrolled  December  1,  1864;  discharged  by  gen 
eral  order  June  16,  1865. 

LEHER,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  D  November 
1,  1862. 

LESTER,  ALFRED,  enlisted  September  12,  1861;  wounded  May  26,  1864,  at  North 
Anna,  Va. ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  serv 
ice;  died  May  6,  1899. 

LESTER,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
August  14,  1862;  unknown. 

LOEFFLER,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty- fourth  Penn 
sylvania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

LONG,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  C  November  1, 
1862. 

LONG,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  2,   1861;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out. 

LORD,  HENRY,  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  wounded  July  20,  1864,  at  Petersburg, 
Va. ;  discharged  December  — ,  1864;  veteran;  unknown. 

MCALLISTER,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  October  24,  1862. 

McCALE,  JOHN,  drafted  July  20,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

McCoY,  HENRY,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

McGuiRE,  FRANK,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

MCKENNEY,  CHARLES  H.,  substitute,  enrolled  July  28,  1864;  taken  prisoner  Sep 
tember  30,  1864;  died  December  25,  1864,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

McLEOD,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  July  28,  1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30, 
1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  27,  1865. 

MCSORLEY,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  July  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

MCWILLIAMS,  JOHN  C,  substitute,  enrolled  November  11,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865. 

MAINE,  SYDILIAN,  enlisted  October  9,  1861;   died  October  1,  1862. 

MARVIN,  WILLIAM  O.,  enlisted  October  1,  1861 ;  died  at  Edisto  Island,  S.  C., 
June  13,  1862. 

MAYES,  THOMAS,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  D  Novem 
ber  1,  1862. 

MERRESSCHAERT,  ADOLPH,  substitute,  enrolled  July  30,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  died  October  14,  1904. 

MERRICK,  MOSES,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  wounded  June  3,  1864,  at  Cold 
Harbor,  Va. ;  died  July  10,  1864;  buried  at  Chester,  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  F  481 

METCALF,  ISAAC,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864; 
died  December  23,  1864,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

METZING,  BERNARD,  substitute;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  joined  Rebel 
Army  November  2,  1864. 

MINARD,  ZILLAR,  enlisted  September  16,  1861;  discharged  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

MISTLER,  NOAH,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864 ;  1239  Franklin  Street,  Johnstown,  Pa. 

MISTLER,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864;  died  February  6,  1904. 

MOGRIDGE,  GEORGE,  enlisted  March  28,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865 ;  residence,  Equinunk,  Pa. 

MOHR,  ADOLPH,  substitute,  enrolled  July  30,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30, 
1864,  until  March  1,  1865 ;  discharged  by  general  order  May  15,  1865. 

MOONEY,  JOHN,  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  wounded  May  6,  1864,  at  Battle  of 
Wilderness ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  December  — ,  1864. 

MOONEY,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  March  23,  1864  wounded  at  Bethesda  Church,  Va., 
May  31,  1864;  died  July  9,  1864,  of  wounds. 

MOORE,  ALFRED,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  D  Novem 
ber  1,  1862. 

MOORE,  ROBERT  H.,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  deserted  January  1, 
1865. 

MORGAN,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  September  28,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

MORROW,  WILLIAM,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  deserted  June  16, 
1865. 

O'GRADY,  GEORGE  H.,  substitute,  enrolled  November  26,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  unknown. 

OSTERHAUDT,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  14,  1861 ;  discharged  October  20,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

OTTO,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  February  23,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania 
C.  H.,  Va.,  May  12,  1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30,  1864;  died  'Decem 
ber  29,  1864,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

PALMER,  OBADIAH,  enlisted  September  17,  1861 ;  wounded  with  loss  of  leg  at 
Antietam,  September  17,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  May  6, 
1863;  unknown. 

PARKER,  BADLEY  N.,  enlisted  November  27,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30, 
1864,  to  March  8,  1865;  died  April  2,  1865,  at  Baltimore,  Md. 

PARKER,  CHARLES  W.,  enlisted  September  5,  1861;  wounded  May  6,  1864,  at 
Battle  of  Wilderness;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;  veteran;  residence,  Al- 
gona,  la. 

PARNELL,  GEORGE  W.,  drafted  November  1,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  June  30,  1865. 

PERRY,  GEORGE,  substitute,  enrolled  November  29,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

PRUNER,  ROBERT,  enlisted  August  14,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate, 
date  unknown. 


482     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

PURDY,  LEWIS  M.,  enlisted  October  25,  1861;  died  January  3,  1862,  at  Otter 
Island,  S.  C. 

RICE,  AUSTIN  D.,  enlisted  September  19,  1861;  wounded  September  17,  1862, 
at  Antietam,  with  loss  of  leg;  discharged,  -  -;  address,  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

ROCK,  JAMES,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  died  June  9,  1864,  of  wounds  received 
at  Spottsylvania  C.  H.,  Va,  May  14,  1864 ;  buried  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

ROEMER,  HENRY,  substitute,  enrolled  July  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

RUSSELL,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  October  8,  1862;  unknown. 

SAXON,  LYMAN  H.,  enlisted  October  9,  1861;  wounded  May  12,  1864,  at 
Spottsylvania  C.  H.,  Va. ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  December 
— ,  1864;  veteran;  unknown. 

SCHELKOPH,  CHRISTIAN,  substitute,  enrolled  July  29,  1864;  absent,  sick,  at  mus 
ter  out. 

SCHERMERHORN,  GEORGE,  enlisted  October  1,  1861;  missing  August  25,  1863,  re 
ported  deserter. 

SCHIBINER,  CHRISTIAN,  substitute,  enlisted  August  1,  1864;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate  March  31,  1865. 

SCHMIDT,  ANTON,  substitute,  enrolled  July  30,  1864;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out. 

SCHNARR,  REUBEN,  enlisted  September  4,  1861 ;  taken  prisoner  December  14, 
1863;  died  June  5,  1864,  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  Grave  1632. 

SEGAR,  GEORGE,  enlisted  October  14,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  C  November 
1,  1862. 

SHAFFER,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  C  Novem 
ber  1,  1862. 

SHAFFER,  JOHN  S.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va., 
June  18,  1864 ;  residence,  Sayville,  N.  Y. ;  veteran ;  mustered  out  with  the 
organization. 

SHIRK,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate, 
date  unknown. 

SLOCUM,  AMOS,  enlisted  September  8,  1861 ;  died  March  21,  1862,  at  Otter  Island, 
S.  C. 

SMITH,  CHARLES,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  deserted  January  17, 
1865. 

SMITH,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  D. 

SMITH,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  22,  1864;  taken  prisoner  April  2, 
1865;  recaptured  April  9;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

SMITH,  SIMON,  drafted  November  11,  1861;  taken  prisoner  April  2,  1865;  recap 
tured  April  9,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

SODER,  CONRAD,  substitute,  enrolled  July  28,  1864;  taken  prisoner  September  30, 
1864;  died  November  6,  1864,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

STEVENSON,  THEODORE,  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  D 
November  1,  1862. 

STONE,  HENRY  H.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate, 
date  unknown. 

STONE,  HERBERT  M.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  October  24,  1862. 


Roster  of  Company  F  483 

STONE,  RALPH,  substitute,  enrolled  July  20,  1864;  absent  at  muster  out. 

STRINGER,  FREDERICK,  substitute,  enrolled  July  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with^  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

SULLIVAN,  MICHAEL,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864 ;  mustered  out  \vith 
company  July  17,  1865. 

SWORD,  WENDLE,  enlisted  August  20,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Company  D  November 
1,  1862. 

TEEPLE,  DEPUY,  enlisted  September  8,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862;  discharged  March  16,  1863;  unknown. 

TEEPLE,  CHRISTOPHER,  enlisted  September  17,  1861;  wounded  October  10,  1863, 
at  Blue  Springs,  Tenn.,  June  7,  1864,  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va. ;  discharged  -  — , 
1864;  veteran;  died  June  11,  1890. 

TEEPLE,  LEVI,  enlisted  March  28,  1864;  discharged  June  10,  1863;  died  January 
4,  1905. 

TERWILLEGER,  JOHN  S.,  enlisted  September  20,  1861;  died  November  9,  1862,  at 
Knoxville,  Md. 

THOMAS,  DANIEL,  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  discharged  September  16,  1862,  on 
surgeon's  certificate ;  unknown. 

THOMAS,  HENRY,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  wounded  June  18,  1864;  transferred 
to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

TYLER,  JOHN  E.,  enlisted  August  10,  1862;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  C.  H.,  Va., 
May  12,  18(54 ;  discharged  by  special  order  June  7,  1865';  address,  Colum 
bia,  Pa. 

UNBURN,  HENRY,  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  transferred  to  Fifty-fourth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers  June  19,  1864. 

UPDEGRAFF,  JEREMIAH,  enlisted  February  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  May  1,  1873. 

WARD,  JOHN,  enlisted  August  22,  1861  ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  ex 
piration  of  term  of  service. 

WARREN,  DANIEL  C.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  wounded  September  17,  1862, 
at  Antietam ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;  unknown. 

WARREN,  PHILANDER  S.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate,  date  unknown. 

WENDLE,  EDWARD,  substitute,  enrolled  July  27,  1864 ;  taken  prisoner  September 
30,  1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

WHIPPLE,  MASON  K.,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  wounded  June  3,  at  Cold  Har 
bor,  Va. ;  discharged  October  20,  1864 ;  at  expiration  of  term ;  address,  R. 
F.  D.  No.  6,  Susquehanna,  Pa. 

WHITNEY,  ALFRED,  enlisted  March  25,  1861;  taken  .prisoner  September  30,  1864; 
died  November  28,  1864,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

WILDES,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  September  14,  1861 ;  died  November  18,  1861 ;  buried 
in  Military  Asylum  Cemetery,  Washington,  D.  C. 

WILLIAMS,  DAYMAN,  substitute,  enrolled  July  28,  1864;  wounded  and  taken  pris 
oner  September  30,  1864;  paroled  March  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

WILLIAMS,  CHARLES,  never  joined  the  company. 

WILSON,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  deserted  June  16,   1865. 


484     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 


WINKLER,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  2,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Antietam  September 

17   1862-  discharged  March  12,  1863;  died  January  28,  1902. 
WOODMANSEE,   SYLVESTER,  enlisted   September  5,   1861;   discharged  on  surgeon's 

certificate  August  14,   1862;   died  December  9,   1909. 
YAHNSON,  WILLIAM,  substitute,  enrolled  July  28,  1864;  taken  prisoner  September 

30,  1864;  joined  the  Rebel  Army. 
YOUNG,  JOHN,  substitute,  enrolled  December  20,  1864;  deserted  from  picket  line 

March  11,  1865. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  G 

RECRUITED  IN  TIOGA  COUNTY. 

COMPILED  BY  SERGEANT  EUGENE  BEAUGE  AND  APPROVED  BY  LIEUT.  JOHN  J.  ROGERS. 
COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

NELSON  WHITNEY,  captain,  recruited  Company  G;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  re 
signed  July  31,  18G2;  died  May  27,  1912. 

REES  G.  RICHARDS,  captain ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted  from  first 
sergeant  to  second  lieutenant  July  31,  1862;  to  captain  September  14,  1862; 
reenlisted  as  veteran  January  1,  1864 ;  prisoner  from  July  30,  1864  to  Febru 
ary  16,  1865;  appointed  brigade  inspector  May  11,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Steubenville,  Ohio. 

W.  T.  FITZGERALD,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  October  18,  1861 ;  resigned  May  23, 
1862;  resides  at  Bellefonte,  Pa. 

JOHN  J.  REESE,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  resigned  July  31, 
1862 ;  died  in  Richmond  Township,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa.,  June  6,  1910. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES,  first  lieutenant ;  promoted  from  first  sergeant  Company  I  June 
27,  1862;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service; 
died  at  Oil  City,  Pa.,  October  13,  1899. 

JOHN  J.  ROGERS,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  November  1,  1861 ;  to  sergeant  September  1,  1862 ;  to  first  sergeant 
March  18,  1863;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 
June  3,  1864;  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  December  16,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

EPHRAIM  JEFFERS,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  26,  1861;  promoted  to 
first  sergeant  September  1,  1862;  to  second  lieutenant  March  17,  1863;  re- 
enlisted  January  1,  1864;  wounded  before  Petersburg  July  21,  1864;  dis 
charged  on  account  of  wound  September  2,  1864;  died  in  Wellsboro,  Pa., 
May  1,  1908. 

THOMAS  J.  DAVIES,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  wounded 
at  South  Mountain,  Mel.,  September  14,  1862;  promoted  from  corporal  to 
sergeant  March  17,  1863;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Har 
bor  June  1,  1864 ;  also  before  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  24,  1864 ;  promoted  to 
first  sergeant  January  1,  1865;  to  second  lieutenant  January  31,  1865; 
wounded  again  in  assault  on  works  before  Petersburg  April  2,  1865;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  in  Charleston  Township, 
Tioga  Co.,  Pa.;  address,  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  R.  F.  D.  No.  8. 


COMPANY  G 


Sergt.  David  E.  Bowen 


Corporal  Samuel  R.  Rogers 


Corporal  John  H.  Robbins  Corporal  John  H.  Robbins 


Roster  of  Company  G  485 

NON-COMMISSIONED   OFFICERS. 

DAVID  L.  BACON,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
corporal  to  sergeant  September  1,  1862;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  pro 
moted  to  first  sergeant  December  16,  1864 ;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864, 
to  March  1,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  3,  1865;  died  at  Hum- 
bolt,  Neb.,  March  31,  1896. 

JASPER  R.  WHITE,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  reenlisted  Janu 
ary  1,  1864;  wounded  at  Blue  Springs,  Term.,  Oct.  10.  1863;  wounded  before 
Petersburg,  July  4,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  until  March  1, 
1865 ;  promoted  from  corporal  to  sergeant  May  1,  1865 ;  to  first  sergeant  June 
3,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1805 ;  died  at  Nelson,  Pa.,  Feb 
ruary  3,  1895. 

DAVID  E.  -BowEN,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
April  1864;  to  sergeant  January  1,  1865;  wounded  before  Petersburg,  Va., 
April  2,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at 
Wellsboro,  Pa. 

DAVID  H.  BELCHER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  December  6,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864 ;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  to  March,  1865 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  May  1,  1865;  to  sergeant  June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  resides  at  No.  508  Gay  Street,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

EUGENE  BEAUGE,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  appointed  clerk  for  the  adjutant  December  28,  1864;  promoted  to 
sergeant  June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides 
at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

CHARLES  T.  KELLEY,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  February  3,  1863;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  served  as  color  bearer 
from  June  18,  1864,  to  September  30,  1864 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  March 
18,  1865 ;  wounded  in  assault  on  works  before  Petersburg  April  2,  1865 ; 
discharged  on  account  of  wound  June  27,  1865;  resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

LYMAN  W.  THOMPSON,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
corporal  to  sergeant  September  1,  1862;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  in  Charleston  Township,  Tioga  Co., 
Pa.,  September  7,  1910. 

TILDEN  C.  CRUTTENDEN,  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  6.  1801  ;  promoted  from  cor 
poral  to  sergeant  December  8,  1862;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  wounded 
and  captured  at  mine  explosion  before  Petersburg  July  30,  1864;  died  in 
Petersburg,  Va.,  August  31,  1864. 

DAVID  WILCOX,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  October  31,  1862 ;  died  November  5,  1907. 

WM.  L.  REESE,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  March  28,  1862;  died  in  Charleston  Township,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa., 
January  30,  1885. 

JOHN  H.  ROBBINS,  corporal,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  in  Covington  Town 
ship,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa.;  address,  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  R.  F.  D.  No.  9. 

DAVID  W.  REESE,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  wounded  before  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  20,  1864;  captured  April  2, 
1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  March  21,  1884. 


486     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

JOHN  J.  JOHNSON,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  prisoner  from  July  30,  18G4,  to  February  25,  1865;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  May,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Wells- 

boro,   Pa. 

THOMAS  J.  ROGERS,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Har 
bor  June  3,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Danville,  Pa. 

DAVID  H.  UPDIKE,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  died  since  the  war,  date  unknown. 

WILLIAM' F.  WILLARD,  corporal;  enlisted  January  17,  1862;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  resides  at  National  Soldiers'  Home,  Danville,  111. 

WILLIAM  E.  PECK,  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  June  1, 
1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  in  Richmond  Town 
ship,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa.,  August  20,  1905. 

SAMUEL  R.  ROGERS,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  January  1,  1862;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  7,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term;  resides  in  CoVington 
Township,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa.;  address,  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  R.  F.  D.,  No.  9. 

JAMES  K.  TILLOTSON,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corr 
poral  January  1,  1862;  prisoner  from  November  18,  1863,  to  July  1,  1864;, 
mustered  out  December  15,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  October  21,  1907. 

JOSEPH  R.  JENNINGS,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  6,  1861 ;  captured  November 
14,  1863;  died  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  December  10,  1864. 

WORTMAN  W.  OWENS,  corporal,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  of  disease  at 
Camp  Nelson,  Ky.,  February  16,  1864. 

CHARLES  H.  WILDAY,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  6,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864 ;  wounded  in  action  June  18,  1864 ;  died  of  wounds  at  Annapolis,  Md., 
July  6,  1864 ;  buried  in  U.  S.  General  Hospital  Cemetery  at  Annapolis,  Md. 

EBENEZER  PEET,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1^ 
1864 ;  wounded  and  captured  at  mine  explosion  before  Petersburg  July  30, 
1864;  died  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  August  30,  1864. 

HENRY  FENTON,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Moun 
tain,  Md.,  September  14,  18(52 ;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam, 
Grave  3879. 

RICHARD  E.  SMITH,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  of  disease  at 
Cliffbourne  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C,  September  7,  1862. 

JOHN  W.  FENN,  musician;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;:  died  December  7,  1910,  at 
Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

JOHN  H.  RICE,  musician;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  died  at  Wellsboro,  Pa., 
December  10,  1869;  buried  in  Austin  Cemetery,  Charleston  Township, 
Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 

ADAM  H.  DOCKSTADER,  musician;  enlisted  September  18.  1861;  discharged  on 
surgeon's  certificate  March  2!>,  18<>2  ;  died  in  1877. 


Roster  of  Company  G  487 


PRIVATES. 

AMES,  HORATIO,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  December  18,  1861 ;  buried  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 

BOCKUS,  ELEAZER,  enlisted  September  26,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  April  24,  1874. 

JOSEPH  BOCKUS,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865  ;  died  at  Jackson  Summit,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa.,  March  24?  1808. 

BELLINGER,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  Crab  Orchard,  Ky.,  Octo 
ber  26,  1863;  buried  near  Crab  Orchard,  Ky. 

BARTLETT,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  Grave  3936. 

BENEDICT,  ORSON  A.,  enlisted  October  6,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  April  14,  1863;  resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

BOCKUS,  GEORGE  H.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  Camp  Milldale,  Miss., 
August  1,  1863;  buried  among  the  cane  brakes. 

BOCKUS,  ALONZO,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  March  28,  1862 ;  died  July  6.  1880. 

BIXBY,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  died  on  Otter  Island,  S.  C, 
April  24,  1862. 

BACON,  GEORGE,  enlisted  November,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  9,  1863;  died  in  Middleburg,  Neb.,  March  9,  1906. 

BREWSTER,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain 
September  14,  1862;  buried  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

BELLINGER,  PETER,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  wounded  July "4.  1864;  mustered 
out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  in  Wisconsin, 
date  unknown. 

BOCKUS,  ANDREW,  enlisted  September  18,  1861:  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  on  surgeon's  certificate  June  14,  1865 ;  died  in  Charleston,  Tioga 
Co.,  Pa.,  September,  1881. 

BURLEIGH,  MORGAN  D.,  enlisted  March  28,  1864;  wounded  at  the  Wilderness 
May  6,  1864 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  January  9,  1865 ;  resides 
at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

BUTLER,  THOMAS  J.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  wounded  with  loss  of  arm  at 
Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  discharged  September  19,  1864;  died  in  Mansfield, 
Pa.,  November  26,  1905. 

BUTLER,  JOSIAH  L.,  enlisted  March  28,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1864;  died  of  wound  August  16,  1864;  buried  in  National  Cemetery, 
Arlington,  Va. 

BILL,  FRANK,  enlisted  July  12,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

BROWN,  DANIEL,  enlisted  December  15,  1864 ;  substitute ;   absent  at   muster  out., 

BROWN,  FRANK,  enlisted  December  20,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  June  14,  1865. 

BOPP,  JACOB,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  substitute;  not  on  muster  out  roll. 

CLEMENS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Re 
serve  Corps  November  15,  1863;  died  August  25,  1887. 

CARPENTER,  NELSON,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  of  disease  at  Camp  Nel 
son,  Ky.,  September  19,  1863. 


488     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

CULVER,  VIHEMAS  S.,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service; 
resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

CALDWELL,  ALEXANDER,  enlisted  December  19,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  April  4, 
1865. 

CARR,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  24,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  March  20,  1865. 

CONSADINE,  PATRICK,  enlisted  November  28,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by 
special  order  March  22,  1865. 

COYLE,  THOMAS,  enlisted  January  3,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  October  6,  1903. 

CAMPERSTEIN,  JACOB,  enlisted  January  3,  1865;  substitute;  wounded  before 
Petersburg  April  2,  1865 ;  discharged  by  general  order  July  15,  1865 ;  died  in 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1910. 

COOK,  JOHN,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

COOK,  CHARLES  D.,  enlisted  December  21,  >  1864 ;  substitute ;  absent  in  arrest  at 
muster  out. 

CURPSMAN,  ARCHIBALD,  drafted  November  26,  1864 ;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out ; 
resides  at  Hope,  Steele  Co.,  N.  D. 

CONLEY,  JOHN,  enlisted  November , 25,  1864;  substitute;  not  on  roll  at  muster  out. 

DEWEY,  DANIEL  P.,  enlisted  February  13,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's!  certifi 
cate  November  20,  1862 ;  died  in  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  June  25,  1870. 

DERBYSHIRE,  GEORGE  R.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain, 
September  14,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  February  14.  1863; 
reenlisted  February  20.  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salis 
bury,  N.  C,  February  11.  1865. 

DICKINSON,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 
wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  resides  at  Middlebury  Center,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 

DOUGLASS,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps  died  May  5,  1003. 

DEMING,  HIRAM  D.,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  promoted  to  hospital  steward 
May  26,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  in  Wells 
boro,  Pa.,  October  26,  1905. 

DOWNING,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  13,  1864;  killed  at  Spottsylvania  May  12. 
1864. 

DOUGHERTY,  PATRICK,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

DUNN,  JOHN  E.,  enlisted  January  2,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  at  East  Downington,  Pa.,  date  unknown. 

ENGLISH,  JAMES  S.,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain, 
Md.,  September  14,  1862 ;  discharged  on  account  of  wound  October  24,  1862 ; 
died  in  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  February  8,  1904. 

EVANS,  DANIEL  A.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  November  1,  1861;  resides  in  Charleston  Township,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 

EDWARDS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 


Roster  of  Company  G  489 


FRANKLIN,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  of  disease  November  9, 
1861. 

FULLER,  LEROY  F.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  April  30,  1862. 

FILLMORE,  HERMAN,  enlisted  December  31,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

FIDEAL,  MAGNUS,  enlisted  December  29,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865. 

GODFREY,  LAFAYETTE,  enlisted  January  6,  1862 ;  detailed  for  service  in  pioneer 
corps ;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  since  the  war;  date  unknown. 

GILE,  ABRAM  V.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1864. 

GILE,  HENRY  N.,  enlisted  April  7,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864; 
discharged  by  general  order  May  17,  1865;  died  since  the  war;  date  un 
known. 

GETTINGS,  GEORGE,  enlisted  December  27,  1864;  substitute;  wounded  before 
Petersburg  April  2,  1865 ;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out. 

GRONDEN,  JOSEPH,  drafted  July  5,  1864;  not  on  roll  at  muster  out. 

GRIFFIN,  HENRY,  enlisted  December  31,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

HOTCHKISS,  DARIUS  H.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 
wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  discharged  September  8,  1865;  resides 
at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

HAUBER,  JOHN  F.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 
June  3,  1864;  wounded  before  Petersburg  July  8,  1864;  died  of  wound  July 
9,  1864. 

HAKES,  SIMON  L.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3, 
1864;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  until  March,  1865;  discharged  by 
general  order,  June  28,  1865 ;  resides  at  Mansfield,  Pa. 

HUMPHREY,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  February  13,  1864;  absent  in  arrest  for  deser 
tion  at  muster  out. 

HOLFELNER,  FRANK,  enlisted  December  21,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  No.  34  Poplar  Avenue,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

HOY,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  15,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

HILKERT,  HENRY  G.,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  June  9, 
1865. 

ISEMINGER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  January  6,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

JENNINGS,  HERMAN,  enlisted  September  26,  1861;  captured  November  16,  1863; 
died  in  Andersonville  prison  July  18,  1864. 

JOHNSON,  ALONZO,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  Setpember  30,  1862 ;  resides  at  Covington,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 

JONES,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  died  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  April 
1,  1864. 

JONES,  EDWARD  P.,  enlisted  December  16,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 


490     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

JENKINS,    GEORGE,   enlisted    December   20,    1864;    substitute;    mustered   out    with 

company  July  17,  1865. 

KNAPP,  NELSON,  enlisted  September  18,   1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1,   1864 ;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  1",  1865;  resides  at  National   Military  Home, 

Va. 

KELSEY,  ELIJAH    S.,  enlisted   September  18,   1861 ;   discharged  on   surgeon's  cer 
tificate  October  25,  1862 ;   died  since  the  war ;   date   unknown. 
KIPHART,    ANDREW   J.,    enlisted    September    26,    1861 ;    discharged    on    surgeon's 

certificate  October  25,  1862;  died  in  Charleston  Township,   Tioga  Co.,   Pa., 

August  30,  1908. 
KELLEY,  PATRICK,  enlisted  November  9,   1863;   wounded  at    Spottsylvania,   May 

12,  1864;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out;  died  in  Soldiers'   Home,  Ohio, 

July,  1910. 
KELLEY,  FRANCIS  R.,  enlisted  March  26,  1864;   wounded  at  Wilderness   May  6, 

1864 ;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out ;  resides  at  Larabee,  McKean  Co.,  Pa. 
KEGRISE,  ADOLPHUS,  drafted  November  14,  1864;  deserted  June  9,  1865. 
KINNEY,    SIMON   L.,    enlisted   January   6,    1865;    substitute;    mustered    out    with 

company  July  17,  1865. 
KRAY,  PAUL,  enlisted  December  16,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,  1865. 
LEWIS,  ALMON,  enlisted  November  19,  1861;   discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

December   16,   1862;    resides  at  Burtville,    Potter   Co.,  Pa. 
LOSLIERE,  ALEXANDER  F.,  alias  Gossler,  Frederick  A.,  enlisted  January  3,  1865: 

substitute;    mustered  out   with  company   July   17,    1865;    resides    at   2111    S. 

Third   Street,  Philadelphia,   Pa. 
MclNTosH,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  26,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 

Corps   February  6,   1864;   mustered   out  October  20,    1864,   at   expiration   of 

term;  died  April  13,   1901. 
MUNN,  WASHINGTON,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  captured  November  14,  1863, 

in  East  Tennessee;  died  in  Andersonville  prison  December  1,  1864. 
MUNN,  WARREN,  enlisted   September  18,  1861;   reenlisted  January  1,   1864;  cap 
tured  June  7,  1864,  near  Cold   Harbor,   Va. ;   died  in   Andersonville  prison 

October  14,  1864. 

MICKLE,  WILLIS  J.,  enlisted  October  14,  1861 ;   reenlisted  January  1,   1864 ;  cap 
tured  September  30,  1864;  died  in  Salisbury  prison  November  25,  1864. 
MARVIN,   GEORGE   S.,   enlisted    September    18,    1861;    reenlisted    January    1,    1864; 

wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864  ;  died  of  wounds  May  19,  1864 ;  buried 

at  Arlington,  Va. 
MORSE,  JAMES,  enlisted  March  25,  1864  ;  prisoner  from  September  30,   1864,  until 

February  25,   1865 ;   discharged  by   general    order   May   20,    18(55;    resides   at 

Grover,   Pa. 
MICKLE,   WILLIAM    A.,   enlisted   February  29,    1864;    died    of    disease    at    Fort 

Schuyler,  N.  Y.,  July  30,  1864  ;  buried  in  Cypress  Hill   Cemetery,  L.  I. 
MICKLE,  GEORGE,  enlisted  January  20,  1862 ;  died  on  Otter  Island,  S.  C,  February 

2,  1862. 
MARSHALL,   W.   J.,  enlisted   December   17,   1864;   substitute;   mustered   out   with 

company  July  17,   1865. 

MORRISON,    JOHN,    enlisted    December   22,    1864;    substitute;    mustered    out   with 
company  July  17,  1865. 


Roster  of  Company  G  491 

MONAGHAN,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  16,  1864;  substitute;  absent,  sick,  at  mus 
ter  out. 

MOYER,  EVAN,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Lewisburg,  Pa.,  R.  F.  D.  No.  3. 

MARTIN,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  19,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

MOORE,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  31,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  June  16,  1865. 

MILLER,  CONRAD,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

McMAHON,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate  June  14,  1865. 

MCMAETY,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  January  7,  1865 ;  substitute ;  deserted  March  5,  1865. 

MC£NTY,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  January  7,  1865 ;  substitute ;  deserted  June  14,  1865. 

MORGAN,  MARTIN,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate  June  1,  1865 ;  died  at  Soldiers'  Home  November  1,  1908. 

NOTT,  STEPHEN,  enlisted  October  6,  1861 ;  captured  near  Cold  Harbor  June  7, 
1864 ;  died  in  Andersonville  prison  November  1,  1864. 

NOLAN,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  17,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  January  4, 1865. 

ORMSBY  EDWIN  R.,  enlisted  October  6,  1861;  deserted  August,  1863;  died 
since  the  war;  date  unknown. 

O'CONNOR,  MARK,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

PETTIS,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  August,  1863,  to  Feb 
ruary,  1865 ;  absent  at  muster  out ;  died  since  the  war ;  date  unknown. 

PATTERSON,  REUBEN  F.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service;  died  in  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  October  14, 
1891. 

PETTIS,  SUMNER  W.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  deserted  November  1863;  re 
sides  at  Cherry  Flats,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 

PRECIT,  CARL,  enlisted  September  29,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ; '  wounded 
at  Spottsylvania,  May  14,  1864 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  May 
4,  1865;  died  at  Mansfield,  Pa.,  September  19,  1903. 

PACKARD,  JOHN  HARLEY,  enlisted  October  6,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  April  1,  1863;  died  in  Covington,  Pa.,  February  28,  1902. 

PITTS,  ALMON  D.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  October  24,  1862;  died  in  East  Charleston,  Pa.,  October  21,  1905. 

PARKE,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  January  16,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
October  25,  1862;  died  in  Wellsboro  June  29,  1906. 

POLLARD,  EMORY,  enlisted  December  24,  1861 ;  died  at  Newport  News  September 

6,  1862. 

PETERSON,  W.  W.,  enlisted  February  19,  1864 ;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864, 
to  February  20,  1865;  died  w^hile  at  home  on  furlough  April  8,  1865;  buried 
in  Wellsboro  Cemetery. 

PORTER,  ERWIN  R.,  enlisted  February  15,  1864 ;  wounded  before  Petersburg  July 

7,  1864;  died  of  wound  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  July  15,  1864. 

PRICE,  ADAM,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 


492     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

RICE,   HENRY  T.,   enlisted   September  18,    1861;     reenlisted    January    1,    1864; 

wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 

Corps;  resides  in  Rose  City,  Mich. 
REESE,  JOSIAH  C,  enlisted  October  6,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

April  3,  1862 ;  died  April  9,  1904. 
ROBBINS,  NOAH  H.,  enlisted  February  17,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June 

3,  1864;  died  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  June  19,  1864. 
REESE,  THOMAS  J.,  enlisted  February  16,  1864 ;  died  of  disease  at  Bedloe's  Island, 

N.  Y.,  July  19,  1864. 
ROGERS,  CHARLES  H.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  June 

3,  1864;  captured  July  30,  1864;  died  at  Danville,  Va.,  January  10,  1865. 
RARAH,   ALEXANDER,   enlisted   December   20,    1864;    substitute;    wounded  before 

Petersburg  April  2,  1865;   discharged  by  special   order  June  5,   1865. 

ROSEBROCK,  JOHN  M.,  drafted  November  28,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865. 

SOULE,  ORVILLE,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Tioga,  Pa. 

SMITH,  ELI,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  wounded  with  loss  of  leg  at  Cold 
Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  absent  at  muster  out;  died  at  Cherry  Flats, 
Tioga  Co.,  Pa.,  April  4,  1875. 

SCOTT,  JEROME,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  June  27,  1864;  died  in  Wellsboro,  May  16,  1891. 

SMITH,  MORRIS,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  wounded  before  Petersburg,  July 

4,  1864 ;  mustered  out  October  20,   1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;   died  since 
the  war ;  date  unknown. 

SQUIRES,  JACOB,  (right  name  said  to  be  Frederick  Schultheiss),  enlisted  Sep 
tember  18,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862 ;  buried 
in  Antietam  National  Cemetery,  Grave  3876. 

STARKWEATHER,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  March  28,  1862;  resides  on  R.  F.  D.,  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

SMITH,  ABRAM,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  transferred  to  U.  S.  Regular 
Army  October  30,  1862. 

STRATTON,  HORACE  M.,  enlisted  January  21,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  November  20,  1862. 

SLOAT,  PHILEMON,  enlisted  January  17,  1862;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864;  died 
July  31,  1864,  of  wound  received  July  30,  1864,  at  mine  explosion  before 
Petersburg,  Va. 

SMITH,  EZRA,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  died  March  3,  1912,  at  East  Charleston,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 

SMITH,  VINCENT  M.,  enlisted  February  13,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  May  4,  1865;  died  at  East 
Charleston,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa.,  April  29,  1901. 

SMITH,  PHILANDER  P.,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania 
May  12,  1864;  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30, 1864, 
to  March,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  May  17,  1865;  resides  at 
Painted  Post,  N.  Y. 

SANDERS,  GEORGE,  enlisted  December  16,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 


Roster  of  Company  G  493 


SMITH,  JAMES  S.,  drafted  August  4,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 

1865;  resides  at  Piney  Grove,  Allegheny  Co.,  Md. 
SAXE,  JACOB,  drafted  November  21,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order  June   1, 

1865; 

SMITH,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  April  6,  1865. 
TERBELL,  CHARLES  H.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 

wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,  1865;  died  in  Boonsville,  Ark.,  May  20,   1911. 
THOMPSON,  ALLEN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 

June  3,   1864 ;   mustered   out  October  20,   1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;   died 

since  the  war ;  date  unknown. 
THOMPSON,  MOSES,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  of  disease  at  Camp  Casey, 

near  Bladensburg,  Md.,  November  10,  1861. 
THORNTON,  EDMUND  L.,  enlisted  January  2,  1865;  substitute;  deserted  June  16, 

1865 ;  resides  in  Delmar  Township,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 

THORNTON,  ALMON,  enlisted  January  2,  1865 ;  substitute ;  deserted  June  16,  1865. 
TOWNSEND,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  22,  1864;  substitute;  not  on  muster  out 

roll. 
TWIG,  BRICE,  drafted  November  14,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 

1865, 
VAN    CASPUS,   MAX,   enlisted   January   6,    1865;    substitute;    mustered    out   with 

company  July  17,   1865. 
WILLIARD,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 

at  expiration  of  term;  died  in  Delmar  Township,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa.,  Septem 
ber  13,  1891;  buried  in  Austin  Cemetery,  Charleston,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 
WILLIAMS,  DANIEL  J.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864; 

wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps ; 

date  of  death  unknown. 
WETMORE,  CHESTER,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  Blue  Springs,  Tenn., 

October  10,  1863. 
WILSON,  DELMAR,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  reenlisted  January  1,  1864 ;  died 

at  Harrisburg,  March  25,  1864. 
WILCOX,  HIRAM,  enlisted  December  6,  1861 ;  died  September  16,  1862,  of  wounds 

received  at  South  Mountain,  Md. ;  buried  in  Antietam  National  Cemetery, 

Grave  3901. 
WILDAY,  GEORGE  C,  enlisted  January  6,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

February  14,  1863;  died  since  the  war;   date  unknown. 
WOOD,  WILLIAM  PENN,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 

June  3,  1864. 
WESTBROOK,  JACOB,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered   out  with 

company  July  17,  1865. 

WHITE,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  deserted  June  4,  1865. 
WILLIAMS,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  deserted  June  2,  1865. 


494     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 
RECAPITULATION 

Of  eight  commissioned  officers  \vho  served  in  Company  G. 

3  resigned 

1  was  mustered  out  after  serving  three  years. 

1  mustered  out  on  account  of  wounds. 

3  mustered  out  with  the  Company. 

Out  of  120  volunteer  enlisted  men  that  belonged  to  the  company 

8  were  killed  in  battle. 

8  died  of  wounds,  in  camp  or  in  hospital. 
14  died  of  disease,  in  camp  or  in  hospital. 

2  died  in  Confederate  prisons,  wounded. 

8  died  in  Confederate  prisons  who  were  not  wounded. 

1  died  while  home  on  furlough  after  being  in  Confederate  prison. 

4  were  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  wounded. 

2  transferred   to  Veteran    Reserve    Corps,   not   wounded. 
10  mustered  out  after  serving  three  years. 

2  discharged  by  general  orders  after  being  in  Confederate  prisons. 

3  discharged  by  general   orders    for  other  reasons. 
7  discharged  on  account  of  wounds. 

24  discharged  on  account  of  disease. 
1  transferred  to  the  Regular  Army. 
3  deserted. 

1  was  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out. 

22  were  mustered  out  with  the   company. 

128  total,  officers  and  volunteer  enlisted  men,  who  served  in  Company  G. 

Of   the   59    recruits    (52    substituted    and    7    drafted    men)    assigned   to    us 

2  were  discharged  by  special  order. 
2  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate. 

14   deserted. 

41  were  mustered  out  with  the   Company. 

We  have  separated  the  volunteer  members  from  the  substitutes  and  drafted 
men  because  it  would  be  manifestly  unfair  to  bunch  them  together  in  figuring 
the  percentage  of  loss  in  the  Company ;  practically  all  the  fatal  casualties  occur 
ring  among  the  vounteer  members. 

Undoubtedly  there  was  material  for  good  soldiers  among  our  substitutes 
and  drafted  men ;  and  it  is  nothing  against  them  that  they  suffered  no  casualties 
to  speak  of.  Coming  to  us  as  they  did  when  the  war  wras  practically  over  these 
latter  day  recruits  had  no  chance  to  show  the  stuff  they  were  made  of.  The 
only  engagement  of  any  account  the  regiment  was  in  after  the  substitutes  and 
drafted  men  joined  us  was  the  assault  before  Petersburg  on  the  second  of  April, 
'65,  and  the  fact  that  three  substitutes  in  Company  G,  George  Gettings,  Jacob 
Camperstein,  substitute,  and  Alexander  Rarah,  were  wounded  that  morning 
shows  that  some  of  the  recruits  at  least  were  on  the  firing  line  and  doing  their 
duty. 


A  cid end  tun 


495 


Fourteen  desertions  out  of  59  substitutes  and  drafted  men  is  not  a  record 
to  be  proud  of.  Our  first  thought  is  that  these  men  entered  the  army  for  what 
there  was  in  it  for  them,  or  because  they  had  to,  and  it  is  not  be  wondered 
at  that  they  should  desert  their  comrades  in  the  hour  of  trial  and  danger.  But 
that  does  not  explain  why  so  many  of  them  skipped  out  in  June,  '65,  when  the 
war  was  over  and  they 'must  have  known  there  was  no  more  fighting  to  do. 
Some  of  us  at  least  remember  that  along  about  that  time  rumors  were  rife 
in  our  camp  near  Alexandria  that  Grant '  was  going  to  take  us  across  the  Rio 
Grande  to  drive  the  French  out  of  Mexico.  Of  course,  that  was  all  poppycock, 
as  our  enlistment  did  not 'call  'for  services  in  a  foreign  country,  but  many  of 
the  recruits  took  the  matter  seriously  and  undoubtedly  that  is  the  reason  whyy 
so  many  of  them  left  us  and  forgot  to  come  back.  Of  course  it  was  a  foolish 
thing  for  them  to  do,  especially  at  that  stage  of  the  game,  and  we  wonder  now 
how  many  years  of  their  lives  these  men — some  of  them  mere  boys  when  they 
deserted — would  give,  if  they  had  them  to  give,  to  be  restored  to  the  roll  of 
honor  and  have  that  nasty  word  "deserter"  stricken  from  their  records. 

How  true  it  is  that  some  time  and  somehow  we  pay  for  all  the  mean  things 
that  are  charged  up  against  us  in  the  Big  Book ! 

One  thing  is  certain  and  that  is  that  the  substitutes  and  drafted  men 
assigned  to  the  Forty-fifth  toward  the  last,  mostly  in  December,  '64,  and  'Janu 
ary,  '65,  were  a  serious  handicap  instead  of  a  benefit}  to  our  record.  Assuming 
that  practically  the  same  conditions  prevailed  in  the  other  companies,  without 
these  recruits  to  account  for,  our  percentage  of  loss  in  killed  and  mortally 
wounded  would  have  been  about  16  per  cent,  instead  of  11.5  credited  to  us  now. 

And  when  we  consider  that  the  highest  percentage  of  killed  and  mortally 
wounded  in  any  Pennsylvania  regiment  was  17.4  (credited  to  the  140th)  we 
get  some  idea  of  how  near  the  Forty-fifth  would  have  been  to  the  top  notch 
if  only  the  volunteer  members  who  rendered  the  service  and  furnished  the  vic 
tims  had  been  considered  in  figuring  out  the  percentage  of  losses. 


ADDENDUM 

A  study  of  the  personnel  of  the  volunteer  members  of:  Company  G  reveals 
the  astonishing  fact  that  we  had  no  less  than  14  pairs  of  brothers  with  us. 
Taken  alphabetically  here  they  are :  George  and  David  L.  Bacon,  Joseph  and 
Peter  Bellinger,  Andrew  and  George  H.  Bockus.  Eleazer  and  Joseph  Bockus, 
Josiah  L.  and  Thomas  J.  Butler,  Abram  V.  and  Henry  N.  Gile,  Francis  R.  and 
Patrick  Kelley,  Washington  and  Warren  Munn,  Sumner  W.  and  John  Pettis, 
John  J.  and  Thomas  J.  Rogers,  John  H.  and  Noah  Robbins,  Eli  and  Ezra 
Smith,  Lyman  W.  and  Moses  Thompson  and  Charles  H.  and  George  C.  Wilday. 
Of  these  28  comrades,  as  the  roster  will  show7,  four  were  killed  in  battle,  three 
died  of  disease  and  six  were  severely  wounded.  But  perhaps  the  saddest  case 
in  this  group  is  that  of  the  Munn  boys.  The  brothers  thought  a  great  deal  of 
each  other  and  were  inseparable  in  camp  and  on  the  march.  As  fate  would 
have  it  both  were  captured  by  the  enemy,  although  not  at  the  same  time,  and 
both  died  in  Andersonville  prison.  They  were  together  several  months  in  cap 
tivity,  after  Warren  was  captured  in  June,  '64,  and  until  he  died  in  October 


496     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

following.  Two  months  later,  after  "Wash"  Munn  had  been  a  prisoner  over 
a  year,  he  "escaped"  from  Andersonville  and  went  to  join  his  brother  on  the 
Other  Side.  Will  they  be  together  over  there?  Wrho  knows? 

In  another  case  three  brothers,  John  J.,  David  W.  and  Thomas  J.  Reese 
served  in  Company  G.  The  latter,  a  lusty  young  fellow  when  he  enlisted,  died  of 
disease  a  few  months  after  he  joined  us,  a  volunteer  recruit. 

But  the  most  remarkable  case  in  this  connection  is  that  of  the  three  Mickles 
—father  and  two  sons— who  enlisted  one  after  the  other,  in  Company  G  and  all 
died  in  the  service.  The  father,  W.  A.  Mickle,  and  his  son  George  died  of 
disease.  W.  J.  Mickle  ("Jim"  we  called  him)  was  taken  prisoner  and  died  at 
Salisbury.  Presumably  he  was  killed  trying  to  escape. 

Comrades  who  were  there  say  that  on  November  25th,  1864,  a  lot  of  our 
fellows,  including  Jim  Mickle,  made  a  break  for  liberty  and  were  in  a  fair  way 
to  escape  themselves  and  at  the  same  time  liberate  the  whole  camp,  when  a 
company  of  Confederate  recruits  who  were  on  their  way  to  the  front  but 
chanced  to  be  at  Salisbury  in  the  nick  of  time,  came  to  the  assistance  of  the 
prison  guards,  many  of  whom  had  been  overpowered  and  their  guns  taken 
away  from  them  by  the  desperate  Union  prisoners — made  desperate  by  cruel, 
inhuman  treatment. 

The  Confederate  officers  in  charge  of  the  prison  wanted  no  better  pretext 
to  vent  their  spite  against  the  "Yankees."  Twenty  or  more  of  our  men  w^ere 
shot  down  in  cold  blood.  Jim  Mickle  was  never  seen  by  our  men  after  that. 

Another  unusual  case  was  that  of  "Uncle  Joe"  Willard  and  his  son  Wil 
liam  F.,  who  both  served  in  Company  G.  And  it  may  be  wrorth  mentioning 
that  George  R.  Derbyshire  was  with  us  at  two  different  times.  A  charter  mem 
ber  of  the  Company,  Comrade  Derbyshire  was  severely  wounded  at  South  Moun 
tain,  September  14,  1862,  and  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  in  February, 
1863.  A  year  later  he  reenlisted,  was  taken  prisoner  September  30th,  1864,  and 
died  in  Salisburv. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  H 

Recruited  in  Tioga  County. 

COMPILED,  ARRANGED  AND  CORRECTED  BY  A.  D.  ALBERT. 
OFFICERS — COMMISSIONED  AND  NON-COMMISSIONED. 

EDWARD  G.  SCHEIFFELIN,  captain ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  resigned  Janu 
ary  10,  1863;  residence,  Wellsboro,  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

EDGAR  F.  AUSTIN,  captain;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  to  first  lieu 
tenant,  September  14,  1862;  to  captain,  May  17,  1864;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate,  October  18,  1864;  dead,  date  unknown. 

LUKE  D.  SEELY,  captain  ;  enlisted  September,  1861 ;  promoted  from  sergeant  to 
first  lieutenant,  March  17,  1863 ;  to  captain,  May  17,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  died  May  8,  1900. 

ENOCH  G.  HOWARD,  first  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  resigned  August 
19,  1862;  residence,  Alpena,  Mich. 


COMPANY  H 


Second  Lieut.  Levi  R.  Robb 


John  C.  Roosa 
1854 


John   C.  Roosa 
1910 


Roster  of  Company  H  497 

HIRAM  PICKERING,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  18,  18G1 ;  promoted  from 
sergeant  to  first  lieutenant,  May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company, 
July  17,  1865;  veteran;  died  February  24,  1907. 

REUBEN  H.  CLOSE,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  resigned 
May  1,  1862;  died  December  14,  1908. 

JOHN  F.  TROUT,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  2,  1861;  transferred  from 
Company  B,  August  1,  1862;  promoted  to  captain,  Company  C,  January 
15,  1863. 

J.  D.  GREENFIELD,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted  to 
second  lieutenant,  March  18,  1863;  discharged  by  special  order,  July  7,  1864; 
died  March  10,  1894. 

LEVI  R.  ROBB,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  from 
sergeant  to  second  lieutenant,  January  24,  1865;  died  April  9,  1865,  of 
wounds  received  at  Petersburg,  April  2,  1865;  veteran. 

NATHAN  EDWARDS,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted 
from  sergeant  to  second  lieutenant,  May  17,  1865;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  residence,  Allegany,  N.  Y. 

CHAS.  A.  FERGUSON,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  wounded  at 
Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864;  promoted  to  first  sergeant.  May  18,  1865;  mus 
tered  out  with  company,  Jufy  17,  1865;  veteran;  died  May  14,  1902. 

GEO.  W.  TREMAIN,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  prisoner  from 
July  30,  1864,  to  February  22,  1865;  died  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  February  24, 
1865 ;  veteran. 

AMASA  CLARK,  sergeant;  enlisted  March  17,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company, 
July  17,  1865;  died  March  5,  1906. 

BENJAMIN  J.  DOBBS,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  from 
corporal  to  sergeant,  May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17, 
1865 ;  veteran ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

TRUMAN  GILBERT,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  from  cor 
poral  to  sergeant,  May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865; 
veteran  ;  died  January  23,  1878. 

OVID  P.  WEBSTER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Wilder 
ness  May  6,  1864;  promoted  from  corporal  to  sergeant  July  1,  1865;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  residence,  Fitzgerald,  Irwin 
county,  Ga. 

AVERY  DERUYTER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  mustered  out,  October 
20,  1864 ;  expiration  of  term ;  address,  R.  F.  D.  No.  2,  Knoxville,  Tioga 
County,  Pa. 

JAMES  McG'EE,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  promoted  from  corporal 
to  sergeant,  May  18,  1865;  discharged  June  30,  1865,  for  wounds  received 
in  action ;  veteran ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

JAMES  A.  BRISCOE,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  June  18,  1864, 
of  wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864. 

JAMES  J.  CADY,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  July  17,  1862;  died  December  20,  1904. 

BENJAMIN  C.  HYMES,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate,  December  31,  1861;  dead,  date  unknown. 

ELLISON  MOORE,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  died  December  26,  1908. 


498     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

JAMES  O'RiLEY,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal, 
May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  dead, 
date  unknown. 

ALBERT  W.  GROVER,  corporal;  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal, 
May  18,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  Hickox, 
Potter  County,  Pa. 

THOMAS  E.  HILL,  corporal;  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal, 
May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Tioga, 
Tioga  County,  Pa. 

JOHN  HOWARD,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  18,  1864 ;  promoted  to  corporal,  May 
18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

MATHEW  WISE,  corporal;  enlisted  December  22,  1864;  substitute;  promoted  to 
corporal,  June  16,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  dead, 
date  unknown. 

MICHAEL  LAWLER,  corporal ;  enlisted  November  29,  1864 ;  substitute ;  promoted 
to  corporal,  May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  dead, 
date  unknown. 

NATHAN  R.  SHAPPE,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  14,  1861 ;  mustered  out,  October 
20,  1864,  expiration  of  term ;  residence,  Tioga,  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

REUBEN  DANIELS,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal, 
May  18,  1865 ;  discharged  June  14,  1865,  for  wounds  received  at  Wilderness, 
May  6,  1864 ;  veteran ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

ISAAC  H.  SHERMAN,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  Wilderness, 
May  6,  1864 ;  veteran. 

JESSE  K.  WILCOX,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  captured  December  14, 
1863;  died  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  date  unknown. 

WILLIAM  E.  PARKER,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  captured  Novem 
ber  16,  1863;  died  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  April  24,  1864. 

THOMAS  DINGMAN,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  Cold  Har 
bor,  June  3,  1864 ;  veteran. 

ROBERT  A.  LOVEJOY,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  killed  at  Petersburg, 
September  30,  1864;  veteran. 

CHARLES  MERRITT,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  home,  while 
on  furlough,  July  30,  1864;  veteran. 

HORACE  B.  SEYMAN,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate,  July  15,  1862;  dead,  date  unknown. 

MILTON  G.  HOLLIDAY,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  South 
Mountain,  September  14,  1862. 

JAMES  E.  HORTON,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate,  March  18,  1863;  died  September  22,  1910. 

GEORGE  W.  HASTINGS,  corporal;  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  drowned  in 
Potomac  River,  1862. 

MARVIN  O.  SUTTON,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate,  November  17,  1862 ;  died  July  31,  1908. 

MUSICIANS. 

HARRY  SAWYER,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company,  July 
17,  1865;  veteran;  residence,  Baldwin,  Lake  County,  Mich. 


Roster  of  Company  H  499 


GEORGE  W.  SAWYER,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,    1863;    residence,  Delta,   Eaton  County,  Mich. 

PRIVATES. 

AMES,  CLARK,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  Wilderness,  May  6,  1864; 

veteran. 
AMES,  ELIJAH,  enlisted  February  29,   1864;  discharged  February  28,    1865,   for 

wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864 ;  died  July  31,  1904. 
AMESBRY,   ANSON   E.,   enlisted  March   22,   1864;   died   May   1,    1865,  of   wounds 

received  at  Petersburg,  April  2,  1865;  buried  at  Alexandria,  Va. ;  grave  3,107. 
ANDERSON,  JAMES,  enlisted  September   18,   1861;   discharged  on   surgeon's   cer 
tificate,  date  unknown ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

ANDERSON,  ROBERT,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;   discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  March  12,  1863;  address,  R.  F.  D.,  Bradford,  Pa. 
ANDREWS,   ORSAMUS,  enlisted  October  9,   1864;   drafted;   discharged  by   special 

order,  May  3,  1865;  residence,  No.  1078  Thirty-fifth  Street,:  ,Des  Moines,  la. 
ARCHER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  January  6,  1865;  substitute;  deserted  April  3,  1865; 

unknown. 
ASPINWALL,  EDWARD,  enlisted  December  2,  1864 ;  substitute ;  killed  at  Petersburg, 

April  2,  1865. 
AVERY,  JUDSON,  enlisted  August  8,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with  company, 

July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 
AVERY,  WILLIAM,  enlisted   March  17,   1864;   wounded  July  14,   1864;  mustered 

out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;   dead,  date  unkonwn. 
BALLARD,  VAN  R.  W.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  at  Georgetown,  D.  C, 

December  4,  1861. 

BARRY,  JOHN,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  substitute;  deserted  April  3,  1865;  un 
known. 
BENNETT,  JOHN  L.,  enlisted  November  18,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  December 

19,  1864;  unknown. 
BLANCHARD,  CHAS.  D.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania, 

C.   H.,   May   13,   1864;   discharged   on   surgeon's   certificate,   June   30,   1865; 

veteran ;    residence,   National    Military   Home,    Danville,   111. 
BLANCHARD,  IRVIN  W.,  enlisted  March  25,  1864;  died  June  21,  1864,  of  wounds 

received  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864 ;  buried  at  Alexandria,  Va. ;  grave, 

2,204. 
BOWEN,  HENRY  F.,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3, 

1864. 
BROCKWAY,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  not  on  muster-out  roll ;  died 

October  3,  1875. 
BROUGHTON,    THOMAS,    enlisted    November   30,    1864;    substitute;    mustered   out 

with  company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 
BRYANT,  ALBERT  T.,  enlisted  March  18,  1864 ;  captured ;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C., 

November  17,  1864;  burial  record,  December  20,   1864. 
BRYANT,  ALONZO  H.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Wilderness,  May 

6,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company,   July   17,   1865;  veteran;   died  March 

30,  1907. 


^oo     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

BUCKBEE,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  March  8,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  June 
3,  1864;  discharged  surgeon's  certificate,  February  2,  1865;  residence,  Elk- 
land,  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

BULLOCK,  HENRY  W.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  June  14,  1865;  veteran;  dead;  killed  by  cars,  May,  1869. 

BUMP,  JACOB,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  deserted  March  19,  1864;  unknown. 

BURR,  AARON,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  September 
14,  1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam;  grave  3,895. 

BURROWS,  BELFONZO,  enlisted  March  14,  1864;  deserted  April  21,  1864;  unknown. 

BUTTERWORTH,  Jos.,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

CAHILL,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  July  26,  1864;  substitute;  captured;  died  at  Salis 
bury,  N.  C.,  December  27,  1864. 

CANFIELD,  ALVIN  H.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  March  25,  1862;  died  July  4,  1904. 

CASSELL,  ABRAHAM  H.,  enlisted  June  6,  1864 ;  drafted ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  died  December  6,  1906. 

CHURCH,  DANIEL,  JR.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  home,  while  on  fur 
lough,  April  8,  1864;  veteran. 

CLARK,  JOHN,  enlisted  November  18,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  December  19, 
1864 ;  unknown. 

CLINE,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate, 
May  1,  1862;  residence,  Emporium,  Pa. 

COLGROVE,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness,  May  6, 
1864 ;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

CALLOW  AY,  HENRY  C.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  date  unknown ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

COON,  ELIAS  P.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  transferred  to  Artillery,  date  un 
known. 

COUCH,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  not  on  muster-out  roll;  residence, 
Gaines,  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

DAVIS,  HIRAM,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3, 
1864;  discharged  by  special  order,  June  5,  1865;  residence,  Nelson,  Tioga 
County,  Pa. 

DAWSON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  November  28,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

DEAN,  HORACE  A.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

DEWEL,  JAMES  F.,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30, 
1864,  to  March  8,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order,  June  3,  1865;  ad 
dress,  R.  F.  D.  2,  Corning,  N.  Y. 

DICKENSON,  GEO.  W.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  Washington,  D.  C., 
November  18,  1862. 

DODGE,  AMASA,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate, 
date  unknown ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

DUNHAM,  WM.  H.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  June  7  to  De 
cember  11,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order,  February  25  1865'  died 
June  20,  1886. 


Roster  of  Company  H  501 

ERY,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  November  29,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  June  12,  1865 ; 
unknown. 

FERESTINE,  XERXES,  enlisted  November  21,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  died  June  19,  1869. 

FERGUSON,  GEO.  E.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  captured;  died  at  Salisbury,  N. 
C,  February  10,  1865. 

FOOTE,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  December  24,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865 ;  residence  No.  22  So.  Welles  Street,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 

FOSTER,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  9,  1864 ;  drafted ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

FREELAND,  GEO.  W.,  enlisted  February  28,  1864;  captured;  died  at  Wilmington, 
N.  C.,  February  10,  1865. 

FRENCH,  DAVID,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  of  wounds  received  at  South 
Mountain,  September  14,  1862. 

FRENCH,  STEPHEN  L.,  enlisted  October  15,  1861;  deserted  May  12,  1864;  un 
known. 

FULLER,  RODOLPHUS,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  date  unknown;  died  January  11,  1909. 

GAINES,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  special 
order,  May  31,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

GARDNER,  GEO.  S.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  date  unknown;  died  July  31,  1907, 

GEARY,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  November  21,  1864,  substitute;  deserted  June  12,  1865; 
unknown. 

GEE,  WILLIAM  H.  L.,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  captured  July  30,  1864;  died 
at  Danville,  Va.,  January  15,  1865. 

GEE,  WILLIAM  B.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company, 
July  17,  1865;  veteran;  died  September  28-  1904. 

GILLESPIE,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  22,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  March  14, 
1865 ;  unknown. 

GILLS,  THOMAS  E.,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  died  of  wounds  received  in  ac 
tion,  date  unknown. 

GOODWIN,  CHAS.  M.,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company, 
July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

GORE,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  January  5,  1865 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

GREEN,  DANIEL  H.,  enlisted  February  17,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania,  C. 
H. ;  May  12,  1864 ;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

GREEN,  LEWIS  N.,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  captured  July  30,  1864;  mustered 
out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Middlebury  Center,  Pa. 

GREEN,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  residence,  No.  835  No.  Sixteenth  Street,  Philadel 
phia,  Pa. 

GREENFIELD,  QUARTUS  D.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate,  July  15,  1862;  residence,  Middleboro  Center,  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

GRINNELL,  GEORGE  L.,  enlisted  March  14,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania,  C.  H., 
May  12,  1864;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out;  died  June  12,  1900. 


502     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

HACKET,  NELSON,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  at  Georgetown,  D.  C,  De 
cember  9,  1861. 

HAHN,  ALBERT,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HAIN,  CASPER,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date,  unknown. 

HAMMOND,  N.  R,  enlisted  September  18,  1861  ;  discharged  in  hospital,  date  un 
known  ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HARDENBURG,  JAMES  H.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865 ;  veteran ;  died  January  25,  1903. 

HARRIS,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate,  date  unknown;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HAYHURST,  WM.,  enlisted  December  27,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HERRING,  EUGENE,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  June 
3,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate,  February  1,  1865;  residence, 
Riceville,  la. 

HILL,  JAMES,  enlisted  March  15,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  17, 
1865 ;  residence,  Crooked  Creek,  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

HOLLIDAY,  VAN  BUREN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  veteran;  residence,  Crooked  Creek,  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

HOMAN,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

HOPPS,  GEORGE  E.,  enlisted  July  26,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  general  or 
der,  June  2,  1865 ;  residence,  Alderson,  Luzerne  County,  Pa. 

HOTCHKISS,  JOHN  N.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain, 
September  14,  1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam ;  grave,  3877. 

JOBE,  THOMAS  M.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  James  Island,  S  C., 
June  11,  1862. 

KELLEY,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  July  28,   1864;  substitute;  killed  at  Poplar   Springs 

Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864. 
KILBOURNE,  ELLIOTT  A.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864 ;  died  June  15,  1864,  of  wounds 

received  at  Spottsylvania,  C.  H.,  May  12,  1864 ;  buried  in  National  Cemetery, 

Arlington,  Va. 

KING,  MARTIN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  deserted,  date  unknown;  died 
March  13,  1887. 

KING,  TRUMAN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  transferred  to  cavalry  regiment, 
date  unknown. 

KLEINSCHMIDT,  U.,  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

KNAPP,  CALVIN  T,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged,  date  unknown,  for 
wounds  received  at  Antietam,  September  17,  1862;  died  February  27,  1907. 

LAY,  LEVI  L.,  enlisted  September  18  1861;  mustered  out,  October  20,  1864,  ex 
piration  of  term;  died  July  25,  1896. 

LETLER,  JOHN  (JOHN  DEVOTO),  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  mustered 
out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  residence,  No.  771  Westside  Avenue,  Jer 
sey  City,  N.  J. 


Roster  of  Company  PI  503 

LITTEER,  HARVEY,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company,  July 

17,  1865;  died  March  2,  1897. 
LOREE,  JAMES  M.,  enlisted  September   18,   1861 ;   died  at  Harrisburg,   Pa.,  April 

11,  1864,  coming  home  on  furlough;  veteran. 

MANN,  CYRUS,  enlisted  Septemper  18,  1861 ;  died  near  Nicholasville,  Ky.,  date 
unknown. 

MARTIN,  ROBERT,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  June  17,  1864,  of  wounds 
received  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864 ;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Arling 
ton,  Va. ;  veteran. 

MEAD,  LEWIS,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate, 
1863;  died  October  27,  1902. 

MERICLE,  NATHAN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  "died  March  2,  1863;  buried  in 
Harmony  Burial  Grounds. 

MERICLE,  PETER,  enlisted  September  18,  1861,  died  July  17,  1864,  of  wounds 're 
ceived  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Arling 
ton,  Va. ;  veteran. 

MILLER,  JOHN,  enlisted  January  6,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  January  31,  1865 ; 
unknown. 

Mix,  DANIEL,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  deserted,  date  unknown ;  unknown. 

MOCK,  ANDREW,  enlisted  December  22,  1864 ;  drafted ;  discharged  by  special 
order,  May  30,  1865 ;  residence,  Tiro,  Crawford  County,  Ohio. 

MORRIS,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  January  7,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  June  6,  1865; 
unknown. 

MOSHER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness,  May  6, 
1864;  discharged  by  special  order,  June  5,  1865;  No.  481  Hammond  Street, 
Corning,  N.  Y. 

McCARNS,  JAMES  P.,  enlisted  December  17,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

MCCOLLOM,  B.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  Otter  Island,  S.  C.,  January 

12,  1862. 

McFALL,  WILLIAM  R. ;  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  July  25,  1910. 

McGREW,  JAMES  A.,  enlisted  September  24,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  spe 
cial  order  June  5,  1865. 

MCNAMARA,  DANIEL,  enlisted  December  16,  1864 ;  substitute ;  absent,  in  hospital, 
at  muster  out ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

ODELL,  HENRY  F.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

ODELL,  IRA,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  discharged  June  22,  1865,  for  wounds 
received  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  2,  1864;  veteran;  died  September  17,  1911. 

O'MARA,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  gen- 
ernal  order,  June  28,  1865;  residence,  No.  133  Commercial  Street,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y. 

PALMER,  GRIFFIN,  enlisted  February  18,  1864 ;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864. 

PEPPERD,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  27,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

PHILLIPS,  RICHARD,  enlisted  November  26,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 


^04     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

REYNOLDS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  July  27,  1864;  substitute;  captured;  died  at  Salis 
bury,  N.  C.,  January  15,  1865;  burial  record,  January  22,  1865. 

ROBERTS,  SOLON,  enlisted  October  29,  1864 ;  drafted ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

ROOSA,  JOHN  C.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  June 
3,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  March  15,  1865;  veteran; 
residence,  Pine  City,  N.  Y. 

SACKETT,  MORRIS  N.,  enlisted  March  27,  1864;  discharged  February  12,  1865, 
for  wounds  received  in  action,  June  13,  1864;  died  Nov.  2,  1911. 

SAWYER,  LEWIS,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  not  on  muster-out  roll ;  unknown. 

SAXTON,  GEORGE  H.,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  died  August  8,  1864,  of  wounds 
received  in  action,  July  24,  1864;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Arlington, 
Va. 

SEYMOUR,  JEROME,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  captured;  died  at  Salisbury,  N. 
C,  December  26,  1864. 

SHAFF,  WILLIAM  A.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Re 
serve  Corps,  January  15,  1864;  unknown. 

SHEAKLEY,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  19,  1864;  drafted;  discharged  by  special 
order,  June  7,  1865;  residence,  Chicora,  Butler  County,  Pa. 

SMITH,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  December  19, 
1865 ;  unknown. 

SMITH,  JOEL  E.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Sep 
tember  14,  1862. 

SMITH,  JOHN,  enlisted  March  31,  1864;  deserted  April  21,  1864;  unknown. 
SOULE,  JAMES   R.,   enlisted   September   18,    1861;   killed   at    Spottsylvania   C.    H., 

May  18,  1864;  buried  in  Wilderness  burial  grounds. 
SOULE,   THOMAS,   enlisted    February   16,    1864;    transferred    to   Veteran   Reserve 

Corps,  March  15,  1865;  address,  R.  F.  D.  No.  4,  Red  Creek,  N.  Y. 
STANTON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va., 

December  13,  1861. 
STEVENSON,  JAMES,   enlisted  January  3,    1865;   substitute;    deserted   January   31, 

1865;  unknown. 

STEVENSON,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  December  30,  1864;  substitute;   not  on   muster- 
out  roll;   unknown. 
STINSON,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  December  30,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 

company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 
STRATTON,  FRANK,  enlisted   September  18,  1861;  killed   at  Jackson,   Miss.;   July 

11,  1863. 

SUMMERS,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  March  14, 
1865;  unknown. 

SUTTON,  DARWIN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate,  date  unknown;  dead,  date  unknown. 

SYLVEY,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  June  11,  1864,  of  wounds 
received  at  Wildnerness,  May  6,  1864;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Arling 
ton,  Va. ;  veteran. 

TAYLOR,  DANIEL  S.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  died  April  23,  1864;  buried 
in  United  States  General  Hospital  Cemetery,  Annapolis,  Md. 


Roster  of  Company  H  505 

THALHINE,  HENRY,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  killed  accidentally, 
February  2,  1865. 

THOMAS,  HENRY,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865;  died  August  21,  1910. 

THOMPSON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  30,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

TOWNSEND,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  22,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate,  June  14,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

TREMAIN,  CHARLES  E.,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness, 
May  6,  1864 ;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out ;  residence,  Lindley,  Steuben 
County,  N.  Y. 

TREMAIN,  JAMES  R.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain, 
September  14,  1862 ;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  grave  3894. 

TURNER,  THOMAS,  enlisted  January  5,  1865 ;  substitute ;  deserted  March  23,  1865 ; 
unknown. 

TUTTLE,  GUY,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  at  Otter  Island,  S.  C,  February 
4,  1862. 

TUTTLE,  PETER  M.,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Wilderness,  May 
6,  1864;  mustered  out,  October  20,  1864,  expiration  of  term;  residence, 
Celoron,  Chautauqua  County,  N.  Y. 

UTTER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  captured ;  died  at  Andersonville, 
Ga.,  November  23,  1864;  grave,  12,133;  veteran. 

VAN  DUSEN,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  transferred  to  artillery,  date 
unknown. 

VAN  RIPER,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  deserted,  date  unknown ;  died 
November  1,  1909. 

WALKER,  FRANK  (W.  D.  MASSON),  enlisted,  January  5,  1865;  substitute;  mus 
tered  out  with  company,  July  17,  1865;  died  January  13,  1901. 

WALTON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  18,  1861;  Dixon,  Mo. 

WEAVER,  CHARLES,  enlisted  January  6,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany,  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

WEBSTER,  HENRY  S.,  enlisted  February  17,  1864;  died  at  Fredericksburg,  Va., 
May  10,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at  Wilderness,  May  6,  1864. 

WEST,  CHARLES,  enlisted  January  6,  1865;  substitute;  deserted  February  7,  1865; 
unknown. 

WILLIAMS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  January  5,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company,  July  17,  1865 ;  dead,  date  unknown. 

WILLIAMS,  ROBERT  (EDWARD  CAMPBELL),  enlisted  January  2,  1865;  mustered  out 
with  company,  July  17,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

WILSON,  GEORGE,  enlisted  December  2,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate,  June  7,  1865;  dead,  date  unknown. 

WILSON,  JAMES,  enlisted  January  5,  1865 ;  substitute ;  deserted  April  3,  1865 ;  un 
known. 


506     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  I 

Recruited  in  Tioga  County. 

COMPILED  BY  SERGEANT  SYLVESTER  HOUGHTON. 

COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

FRANCIS  M.  HILL,  captain;  enlisted  October  18,  1861;  promoted  to  lieutenant- 
colonel  March  1,  1863;  resides  at  Cedar  Vale,  Kansas. 

WILLIAM  CHASE,  captain ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  promoted  to  first  ser 
geant  September  14,  1862;  to  captain  April  \,  1863;  wounded  at  Jackson, 
Miss.,  July  11,  1863,  and  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  discharged  January 
18,  1865;  died  April  13,  1906,  at  Milford,  Iowa. 

CHAS.  M.  HART,  captain ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  promoted  from  sergeant 
to  second  lieutenant  September  14,  1862;  to  first  lieutenant  July  1,  1863; 
to  captain  May  17,  1865 ;  prisoner  from  December  14,  1863,  to  March,  1865 ; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Hornell,  N.  Y. 

G.  D.  SMITH,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  October  7,  1861;  killed  at  South  Moun 
tain  September  14,  1862. 

JAS.  E.  CATLIN,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  February  14,  1862;  to  sergeant  September  14,  1862;  to  first  sergeant 
November,  1863;  to  second  lieutenant  June  21,  1864;  to  first  lieutenant  May 
17,  1865 ;  prisoner  for  12  months ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ; 
died  November,  1906,  at  Vinton,  Iowa. 

GEORGE  M.  ACKLEY,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  October  18,  1861 ;  discharged  on 
surgeon's  certificate  July  31,  1862 ;  died  June  27,  1899,  near  Sabinsville,  Pa. 

JAMES  M.  COLE,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  30,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
corporal  to  sergeant  June  17,  1862;  to  second  lieutenant  August  1,  1862; 
killed  at  South  Mountain  September  14,  1862. 

DEWITT  C.  HOIG,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  promoted  from 
corporal  to  sergeant  September  14,  1862;  to  second  lieutenant  August  13, 
1863;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor  June  6,  1864. 

ANDREW  STRONG,  second  lieutenant;  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  promoted  from 
sergeant  to  first  sergeant  January  1,  1865;  to  second  lieutenant  May  17, 
1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Lake  Ben- 
ton,  Minn. 

NON-COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

MARTIN  G.  CLARK,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  October  19,  1861;  promoted  from 
sergeant  to  first  sergeant  May  17,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;  resides  at  Fort  Dodge,  Kansas. 

SAMUEL  HAYNES,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  promoted  to  first 
lieutenant  company  G  June  27,  1862 ;  died  at  Oil  City,  Pa.,  October  13,  1899. 

EDWIN  B.  CARVEY,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  promoted  to  ser 
geant,  September  14,  1862;  to  first  sergeant,  July  1,  1863;  wounded  at  Jack 
son,  Miss.,  July  11,  1863;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  November 

18,  1863;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864;  resides  at  Draper,  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  I  507 


DECATUR  DICKINSON,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  29,  1861 ;  promoted  to 
sergeant  March  21,  1863;  to  first  sergeant  June  21,  1863;  to  sergeant  major 
September  7,  1864;  resides  at  Neilsville,  Clark  Co.,  Wis. 

SYLVESTER  HOUGHTON,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  promoted  to  ser 
geant  September  14,  1862 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disaoility 
January  6,  1863;  resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

WILLIAM  HOFFMAN,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  wounded  at  Cold 
Harbor  June  3,  1864;  promoted  to  sergeant  July,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  August  26,  1875. 

JOHN  HANCOCK,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Poplar 
Grove  Church  September  30,  1865;  died  at  Sabinsville,  Pa.,  date  unknown. 

JUSTUS  D.  STRAIT,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  prisoner  from  Sep 
tember  30,  1864,  to  February,  1865;  promoted  to  sergeant  May  1,  1865;  ab 
sent  on  furlough  at  muster  out ;  died  May  17,  1912. 

PHILO  CARL,  sergeant ;  enlisted  December  29,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  May 
8,  1864 ;  discharged  March  10,  1865,  for  wounds  received  at  Spottsylvania 
Court  House,  May  12,  1864 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

JOHN  B.  EMERY,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  January  1,  1862;  prisoner  from  December 
14,  1863  to  May  25,  1864;  mustered  out  December  31,  1864,  expiration  of 
term ;  residence,  Williamsport,  Pa. 

JOHN  H.  BUCKLEY,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  21,  1805;  discharged  May  18, 
1865,  for  wounds  received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  died  February  20, 
1904. 

ALONZO  BORDON,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
March  10,  1864;  died  May  38,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864. 

MALCOLM  A.  ROYCE,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  Sep 
tember  30,  1864,  to  February  28,  1865 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  May  18,  1865 ; 
died  at  Alexandria  June  28,  1865. 

SOLON  S.  DARTT,  sergeant;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant 
February  22,  1862 ;  died  June  16,  1862. 

WARDEN  E.  TYLER,  corporal;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  wounded  at  New 
Hope  Church,  Ga.,  May  28,  1864;  absent  in  hospital  at  muster  out;  died 
at  Lincoln  Center,  Kansas,  date  unknown. 

WALTER  E.  MARSH,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

MANNING  C.  MAY,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  30,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
January  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at 
Cherry  Flats,  Pa. 

ALBERT  SAXBURY,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  7,  1861  ;  wounded  at  Wilderness 
May  6,  1864;  promoted  to  corporal  February  1,  1865;  absent  on  furlough  at 
muster  out ;  died  March  6,  1897. 

ABRAM  C.  ELLSWORTH,  corporal;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  May  18,  1865;  absent  on  furlough  at  muster  out;  resides  at  Lake- 
view,  Mich. 

JOHN  L.  JOHNSON,  corporal;  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  wounded  at 
Petersburg  April  2,  1865;  promoted  to  corporal  May  18,  1865;  mustered 
out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 


^oS     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

LYMAN  HANCOCK,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 

May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 
CHARLES   F.  REED,  corporal;  enlisted  February   13,   1864;  promoted  to  corporal 

June  1,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Rexford, 

Kansas. 
WRIGHT  REDINGTON,  corporal ;  enlisted  December  25,  1861 ;   died  June  16,   1864, 

of  wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864. 
DARIUS  KRINER,  corporal;  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  captured  June  7,   1864; 

died  in  prison  January  1,  1865. 
OVID  H.  ANDREWS,  corporal ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;   died  at  Washington, 

D.  C,  November  19,  1861. 
EMANUEL   E.    HIPPLE,    musician ;    enlisted    March    17,    1864 ;    mustered    out    with 

company  July  17,  1865;   residence  at  809  Vine   Street,   Philadelphia,   Pa. 
CHAS.  H.  STRAIT,  musician ;  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's 

certificate  November  5,  1862;  resides  at  Williamsport,  Pa. 

PRIVATES. 

ADAMS,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  March  1,  1865. 

ALBRIGHT,  HENRY,  enlisted  December  26,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  March  21, 
1865. 

BUTTON,  JOHN  S.,  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BOYLE,  PETER,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BUCK,  JAMES  A.,  enlisted  January  7,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BAKER,  LEWIS,  enlisted  January  6,  1865 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with,  company 
July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BARR,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  30,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  Jan 
uary  6,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

BLACKMORE,  DWIGHT,  drafted  September  22,  1864;  discharged  by  special  order 
June  7,  1865 ;  died  January  22,  1902. 

BAXTER,  SETH  D.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps  June  lo,  1864;  resides  at  Campbell,  N.  Y. 

BARNES,  SELAR  J.,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve 
Corps,  June  ],  1865;  resides  at  Gibby,  N.  D. 

BUTTON,  WARNER,  enlisted  October  7,  1861;  died  May  21,  1864,  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Spottsylvania  May  12,  1864. 

BEACH,  JOHN  S.,  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died 
January  11,  1865,  in  prison. 

BOWKER,  JASPER,  enlisted  September  21,  1863;  died  June  14,  1864,  of  wounds 
received  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864;  buried  in  National  Cemetery  at 
Arlington. 

BUTLER,  ZADOC,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  discharged  on   surgeon's  certificate 

November  31,  1861 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 
BROWN,  BURTON,  enlisted  October  7,  1861 ;  drowned  August  4,  1862,  in  Potomac 

River. 

BORDEN,  WILLIAM  V.,  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  January  20,  1863;  date  of  death  unknown. 


Roster  of  Company  I  509 


CARLS,  JOHN  W.,  enlisted  February  10,  1864;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;  date 
of  death  unknown. 

CLOSE,  NEWBERRY,  enlisted  December  26,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Petersburg  July  30, 
1864;  absent  in  hospital  at  muster  out;  died  December  3,  1909. 

CAHN,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  January  1,  1862;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  to 
March,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  717  Bush- 
wick  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

COWDEN,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  December  28,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain  Sep 
tember  14,  1862;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  April  25,  18(54;  mus 
tered  out  December  28,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;  died  at  Soldiers'  Home, 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

CLEARY,  JOHN,  enlisted  January  6,  1865 ;  substitute ;  transferred  to  Western  Army 
February  20,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

CASE,  JEHIEL,  enlisted  March  26,  1864 ;  wounded  and  captured  July  30,  1864 ; 
died  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  August  10,  1864. 

CAMPBELL,  RANSFORD,  enlisted  February  20,  1864;  died  at  Annapolis  April  11, 
1864. 

COOPER,  ROBERT,  enlisted  September  30,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
January  18,  1862;  died  January,  18P5. 

DODGE,  AMASA,  enlisted  February  27,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

DIMMICK,  SELDON  B.,  enlisted  February  16,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  died  January  20,  1894. 

DONLEY,  SAMUEL  M.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  resides  at  Reed  City,  Mich. 

DEITRICH,  JOHN,  enlisted  January  4,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

DONLEY,  JAMES  S.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  discharged  June  14,  1865,  for 
wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

DICKINS,  ELI,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  died  June  30,  1864,  at  Fortress  Mon 
roe  ;  buried  at  Hampton,  Va. 

DUNCAN,  GEORGE,  enlisted  February  28,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  January  24, 
1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

DEEGAN,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  January  24, 
1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

DICKINS,  AVA,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  June  1,  1865; 
date  of  death  unknown. 

EDSON,  CHAS.  C,  enlisted  October  2,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  May  12, 
1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resides  at  Crawfordsville, 
R.  F.  D.  No.  9. 

EASTMAN,  HARRISON  D.,  enlisted  October  21,  1861;  mustered  out  October  20, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;  resides  at  Chehalis,  Lewis  Co.,  Wash. 

ENGLISH,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864, 
to  February,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  3,  1865;  resides  at 
Neal,  Kansas. 

ENGLISH,  JOSEPH  O.,  enlisted  March  21,  1864;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864, 
to  February,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  3,  1865;  resides  at 
Wellsboro,  Pa. 


Sio     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

ELLIOT,  LEWIS,  enlisted  February  13,  1864;  died  April  13,  1865,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

ELLIOT,  HENRY  A.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Petersburg  July  30, 
1864;  deserted  June  1,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

ELLIS,  CHESTER,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
September  5,  1862. 

ENGLISH,  GEORGE  C.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  November  20,  1862;  died  September  5,  1882. 

ENGLISH,  GEORGE,  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  killed  at  South  Mountain  Septem 
ber  14,  1862;  buried  in  National  Cemetery  at  Antietam,  Grave  3890. 

FLETCHER,  JOHN  A.,  enlisted  December  30,  1861 ;  discharged  January  18,  1865, 
for  wounds  received  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  died  July  5,  1911. 

FRANCIS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  January  24, 
1865. 

FINNE,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  December  30,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  January  9,  1865. 

FOSK,  CHARLES,  enlisted  October  7,  1861 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

GILLISPIE,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  31,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  July  6,  1865; 
resides  at  Lloyds,  Pa. 

HANDY,  ALBERT  M.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June 
3,  1864;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HOWD,  CHARLES  H.,  enlisted  December  1,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  resides  at  East  Stroudsburg,  Pa. 

HAHN,  ABRAM  E.,  drafted  December  8,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  resides  at  Tunkhannock,  Pa. 

HUMPHREY,  HENRY,  enlisted  January  3,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HEITER,  THEODORE,  drafted  September  22,  1864 ;  discharged  by  special  order  June 
7,  1865 ;  died  October  13,  1899. 

HAHN,  LEVI  H.,  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  general 
order  June  15,  1865;  resides  at  103  North  Meade  Street,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 

HANDY,  FRANCIS,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  C.  H. 
May  12,  1864 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term ;  resides 
at  308£  South  Main  Street,  Elmira,  N.  Y. 

HARDY,  WILLIAM  H.,  drafted  December  9,  1864 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  June  30,  1865;  resides  at  119  Quackenbush  Avenue,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

HAYES,  HARVEY,  enlisted  November  29,  1864 ;  substitute ;  transferred  to  Western 
Army  March  1,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HOTELLING,  ELLIS  P.,  enlisted  February  25,  1865 ;  killed  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  June 
27,  1865. 

HANDY,  CHARLTON,  enlisted  Setpember  21,  1861;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor  June  7 
1864. 

HENRY,  ALEXANDER,  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  died  of  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Petersburg  April  2,  1865 ;  buried  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  Grave  3095. 

HANSINGER,  ABSA'M,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  deserted  June  1,  1865;  died  at 
Wellsboro,  Pa.,  date  unknown. 

HULBERTSON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  20,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  January 
9,  1865. 

HAMPSON,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  January  9, 
1865. 


Roster  of  Company  I  511 


HOTELLING,  ALLEN,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 

at  expiration  of  term  ;  resides  at  Little  Marsh,  Pa. 
HUGH,   JOHN,  enlisted   September   21,   1861 ;   discharged   on    surgeon's  certificate 

April  11,  1863;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HAWKS,   GEORGE,  enlisted   September  21,  1861;    deserted   September  14,   1862. 
JILLISON,  AMOS,   drafted  September  26,   1864;   discharged  by   special  order  June 

7,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 
JOHNSON,  JAMES  E.,  enlisted  February  13,  1864;  captured  at  Cold  Harbor  June 

7,  1864;  died  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  September  10,  1864,  Grave  8318. 
JOHNSON,  DARIUS,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  captured  at  Cold  Harbor  June  7, 

1864;  died  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  July  18,  1864,  grave  3499. 
JOHNSON,  JOHN  J.,  enlisted  December  21,  1861;  captured  December  14,  1863;  died 

at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  March  28,  1864. 

JONES,  JAMES  E.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  died  November  1,  1862. 
KENNEDY,  STEPHEN  F.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out; 

date  of  death  unknown. 
KIRKPATRICK,  JOHN,  enlisted  October  22,  1861;  died  of  wounds  received  at  An- 

tietam  September  17,  1862;   date  of  death  unknown. 
LAWTON,  THOMAS,  enlisted  February  21,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 
LAWTON,  WARREN,  enlisted  February  16,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;  resides  at  Tiadaughton,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 
LYNCH,    DOMINICK,   enlisted   December   1,    1864;   substitute;    mustered   out    with 

company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

LONG,  LEWIS  E.,  enlisted  August  13,  1863;  drafted;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  May  17,  1865 ;  died  January  28,  1898. 
LLOYD,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  October   12,  1861 ;  mustered  out   October  20,   1864,  at 

expiration  of  term;  died  July  16,  1898. 
LANGDON,  DAVID,  enlisted  February  27,  1864 ;  deserted  May  12,   1864 ;  resides  at 

Gaines,  Pa. 
LARRISON,  WASHINGTON,  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  deserted  September  14,  1862: 

date  of  death  unknown. 

LANNING,   THOMAS,   enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;   discharged  on  surgeon's   certifi 
cate  February  15,  1862;  died  March  19,  1894. 
MARSH,  THOMAS  D.,  enlisted   September  21,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,  1865 ;  died  October  30,  1909. 
MILLER,  JOHN  P.,  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  captured  September  30,  1864 ;  absent, 

sick,  at  muster  out ;  died  May  20,  1885. 
MANEY,  PATRICK,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 

1865;  resides  at  656  Beeber  Street,  Williamsport,  Pa. 
MILLS,  EDWIN   E.,  drafted  December  8,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 

17,  1865;  died  1901. 
MEYERS,  LEWIS,  enlisted  January  7,  1865 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

MORTON,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  31,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 
MATTISON,    GEORGE   S.,    enlisted    September  21,    1861 ;   captured ;    died   in   prison. 

date  unknown.   3 


512     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

MULVANEY,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  27,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  March  21, 
1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

MORTON,  NOAH  C,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  died  September  29,  1862,  of 
wounds  received  at  South  Mountain  September  14,  1862;  buried  in  National 
Cemetery  at  Antietam,  Grave  4142. 

MAYNARD,  MARSHALL  M.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;   died  September  21,  1863. 

MORES,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

MILLER,  CHRISTOPHER,  enlisted  October  22,  1861 ;  died  July  2,  1862. 

McGEE,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  16,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  January  24, 
1865. 

NEWBURY,  SPENCER,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  C.  H. 
May  12,  1864;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  March  28,  1865;  date 
of  death  unknown. 

NIVER,  HIRAM,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  killed  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

NIVER,  SILAS,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  died  April  20,  1864;  buried  in  U.  S. 
General  Hospital  Cemetery,  Annapolis,  Md. 

NABAL,  JAMES,  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  killed  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  July  11,  1865. 

OVERDURF,  JEREMIAH,  drafted  December  8,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  died  March  1,  1892. 

ORR,  ROBERT  S.,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  killed  at  Poplar  Springs,  Va.,  Sep 
tember  30,  1864. 

OWENS,  WARREN,  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  died  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  Septem 
ber  18,  1864. 

PHILLIPS,  JOHN,  drafted  December  8,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

PARRY,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  October  15,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

PRITCHARD,  LEVI,  enlisted  March  26,  1864;  deserted  June  1,  1865. 

PEMBERTON,  CHENEY  O.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  October  27,  1862;  date  of  death  unknown. 

ROOT,  EUGENE  B..  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 

ROWLAND,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  C.  H. 
May  12,  1864;  absent  in  hospital  at  muster  out;  date  of  death  unknown. 

REXFORD,  GEORGE  M.,  enlisted  February  22,  1864  ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June 
3,  1864;  absent,  in  hospital,  at  muster  out;  resides  at  Gaines,  Pa. 

Ross,  FREDERICK,  enlisted  January  4,  1865;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

ROLLIER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  January  4,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  general 
order  June  7,  1865. 

RILEY,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  1,  1864;  substitute;  died  June  15,  1865;  buried 
at  Alexandria,  Va.,  grave  3241. 

REIBSAM,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  died  June  29,  1864,  of  wounds  re- 
-ived  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864;  buried  in  National  Cemetery  at 
Arlington. 

REYNOLDS,  RHESA  I.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  October  3,  1863;  resides  at  Westfield  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  I  513 


ROYCE,  EDWIN,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

March  13,  1863;  date  of  death  unknown. 
REMINGTON,  JASON,  enlisted  October  10,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

April  1,  1863;  died  1901. 
SHELLEY,   DANIEL   M.,  enlisted  October  12,   1861 ;   mustered  out   with  company 

July  17,  1865 ;  resides  in  Delmar,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 
SUMMERVILLE,  JAMES,  drafted  November  15,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 
SANDS,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  29,  1864 ;  discharged  by  special  order  June 

10,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 
SHERMAN,  PORTER  R.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May 

6,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  discharged  by  general  order  June  22, 

1865 ;  resides  at  South  Boardman,  Mich. 
SEWELL,  CHARLES  E.,  enlisted  August  27,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  special 

order  June  7,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 
SAWYER,  HORACE  S.,  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  discharged  December  6,  1864,  for 

wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864;  residence,  704  Rose  Avenue, 

Big  Rapids,  Mich. 

SAWYER,  HARMON  H.,  enlisted  October  3,  1861 ;  captured  September  30,  1864 ;  dis 
charged  by  general  order  June  3,  1865 ;  resides  at  Cafenish,  Mich. 
SMITH,  HENRY  H.,  enlisted  February  16,  1864 ;  captured  June  3,  1864 ;  discharged 

by  general  order  June  3,  1865;  resides  at  Wellsboro,  Pa. 
STUMPFF,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  general 

order  June  22,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 
SCHMIDT,    HARRY,    enlisted    December    19,    1864;    substitute;    transferred    to    the 

Western  Army  February  20,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 
STONE,  WARREN  D.,  enlisted  March  31,  1864;  killed  at  Spottsylvania  C.  H.  May 

12,  1864. 
SAXBURY,  CORNELIUS,  enlisted  October,  1861 ;  killed  at  Poplar  Springs   Church 

September  30,  1864. 
SMITH,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  December  20,   1864;   substitute;   deserted  January  9, 

1865. 
STRAIT,  STEPHEN,  enlisted  October  14,  1861 ;   discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 

January  13,  1863;   date  of  death  unknown. 
SOFIELD,  CHARLES  B.,  enlisted  December  28,  1861;  wounded  at  South  Mountain 

September   14,    1862;    discharged    December   31,    1863;    resides   at   435    West 

Fourth  street,  Erie,  Pa. 
TRAVERSE,  HENRY  W.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company 

July  17,  1865;   resides  at  Driftwood,  Okla. 
TRAVER,  JACOB  M.,  drafted  December  9,  1864;  absent,  sick,  at  muster  out;  date 

of  death  unknown. 
THOMPSON,   WILLIAM    H.,    enlisted    September    21,    1861s    mustered    out    October 

20,   1864,  at  expiration  of  term  ;   resides   at  Little  Marsh,  Pa. 
TOWNSEND,  CHAS.  H.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864, 

at  expiration  of  term ;  resides  at  Asaph,  Tioga  Co.,  Pa. 
VANHOSEN,  SAMUEL  J.,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  died  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  April 

10,  1864. 
WATERS,  ALBERT,  enlisted  October  12,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 

1865;  died  September  11, 


^14     l:ort\'-I'ifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

WILLIAMS,  ROBERT  A.,  enlisted  December  28,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

WANDS,  ALEXANDER,  drafted  December  8,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  died  October  13,  1901. 

WATROUS,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company 
October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term;  resides  at  Gaines,  Pa. 

WILSON,  ERASTUS,  drafted  September  27,  1864 ;  discharged  by  special  order  June 
7,  1865;  resides  at  New  Albany,  Bradford  Co.,  Pa. 

WOOD,  JEHIAL  H.,  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  September  30,  1864,  to 
February  6,  1865 ;  mustered  out  March  2,  1865,  at  expiration  of  term ;  resides 
at  Marshlands,  Pa. 

WILLIAMS,  FREDERICK,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  wounded  at  Peters 
burg  April  2,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  13,  1865;  date  of 
death  unknown. 

WATKINS,  PALMER  B.,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Re 
serve  Corps  June  8,  1864 ;  resides  at  Knoxville,  Pa. 

WILKINSON,  JOHN,  enlisted  March  6,  1862;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died 
March  14,  1865;  buried  in  U.  S.  General  Hospital  Cemetery,  Annapolis. 

WILKINSON,  ROOK,  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  died  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  April  12, 
1864. 

WILLIAMS,  ROBERT,  enlisted  December  10,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  May  11, 
1865. 

WILCOX,  FRANCIS  L.,  enlisted  September  21,  1864;  deserted,  date  unknown;  re 
sides  at  Sabinsville,  Pa. 

WILSON,  M.  D.,  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  11,  1862;  died  October  3,  1901. 

YOUNG,  SAMUEL,  drafted  December  23,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  resides  at  907  Seventh  Street,  Altoona,  Pa. 

ZIMMERMAN,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  December  8,  1864;  drafted;  discharged  on  sur 
geon's  certificate  June  30,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 


ROSTER  OF  COMPANY  K 

Recruited  at  Columbia,  Lancaster  County,  Pa.,  1861 -1865. 
[REVISED,  CORRECTED.  AND  ALPHABETICALLY  ARRANGED  P,Y  COMRADE  W.  A.  ROBERTS] 

COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. 

EZEKIEL  Y.  RAMP.O,  captain;  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  killed  in  action  on  Sea- 
brook  Island,  S.  C,  March  13,  1862;  from  Columbia,  Pa.;  buried  at  Coates- 
ville,  Pa. 

EDWARD  A.  KELSEY,  first  lieutenant;  enlisted  October  12,  1861;  promoted 
to  captain  March  26,  1862;  to  major  July  2,  1863;  wounded  June  3,  1864,  at 
Cold  Harbor,  Va. ;  died  from  wounds  June  24,  1864,  in  hospital  at  Washing 
ton,  D.  C. ;  buried  at  his  home,  Columbia,  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  K 


ANDREW  J.  FESSLER,  second  lieutenant ;  enlisted  October  12,  1861 ;  promoted  to 
first  lieutenant  March  26,  1862;  to  captain  July  3,  1863;  wounded  and  cap 
tured  at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864 ;  mustered  out  Octo 
ber  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  July  19,  1895,  at  his  home, 
Newberry,  Lycoming  County,  Pa. 

CALVIN  S.  BUDDING,  first  sergeant;  enlisted  September  9,  1861;  promoted  to  sec 
ond  lieutenant  March  13,  1862;  to  first  lieutenant  and  adjutant  March  26, 
1862;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862;  discharged 
November  21,  1864 ;  died  at  his  home,  Wrightsville,  York  County,  Pa.,  March 
12,  1894. 

JOHN  GELBAUGH,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  promoted  to  second  lieu 
tenant  March  26,  1862;  to  first  lieutenant  July  3,  1863;  wounded  at  Cold 
Harbor  June  3,  1864;  mustered  out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term 
of  service;  died  January  11,  1896;  from  Marietta,  Pa. 

EDGAR  EYDE,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  March  28, 
1863 ;  to  second  lieutenant  July  9,  1864 ;  to  captain  January  2,  1865 ;  wounded 
at  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  30,  1864;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  died  Decem 
ber  25,  1868;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

CHARLES  H.  KOCH,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  5,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant 
March  28,  1862;  to  second  lieutenant  January  2,  1865;  to  first  lieutenant 
June  8,  1865;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  died  at  his  home,  York,  Pa.,  date 
unknown. 

EPHRAIM  E.  MYERS,  enlisted  February  25,  1862;  promoted  to  sergeant  No 
vember  23,  1863,  at  Knoxville,  Tenn. ;  to  first  sergeant  July  9,  1864 ;  wounded 
June  3,  1864,  at  Bethesda  Church,  Va. ;  wounded  June  16,  1864,  in  front  of 
Petersburg;  wounded  and  captured  September  30,  1864,  at  Poplar  Springs 
Church,  Va. ;  promoted  to  second  lieutenant  June  8,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  York,  Pa. 

NON-COM  MISSIONED    OFFICERS. 

JOHN  H.  STRICKLER,  first  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  promoted  to  ser 
geant  December  27,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865 ;  pro 
moted  to  first  sergeant  April  22,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865 ;  residence,  Wrightsville,  Pa.,  at  time  of  enlistment ;  now  resides  at 
5009  Powell  Valley  Road,  Portland,  Ore. 

JACOB  F.  ZIEGLER,  sergeant ;  enlisted  October  10,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  Sep 
tember  15,  1862;  to  sergeant  March  29,  1864;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865; 
date  of  death  and  residence  unknown. 

ABRAHAM  GOTTSCHALL,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  8,  1861 ;  promoted  to  cor 
poral  April  22,  1864;  captured  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  30,  1864;  promoted 
to  sergeant  May  1,  1865;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Frederick, 
Oklahoma. 

WILLIAM  KELLEY.  sergeant;  enlisted  September  :?,  1801;  promoted  to  corporal 
January  19,  1862 ;  reduced  November  24,  1863 ;  wounded  September  30,  1864 ; 
promoted  to  corporal  January  24,  1865;  to  sergeant  May  1,  1865;  mustered 
out  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Wrightsville,  Pa. 


516     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

REUBEN  E.  FEILIS,  sergeant ;  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
November  24,  1863;  to  sergeant  April  4,  1864;  wounded  in  battle  of  Wilder 
ness  May  6,  1864 ;  assigned  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  December  7,  1864 ;  resi 
dence  at  time  of  enlistment,  Columbia,  Pa.;  residence  at  present,  No.  854 
North  Forty-second  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

JAMES  McCANN,  sergeant;  enlisted  August  23,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain, 
Md.,  September  14,  1862 ;  buried  in  National  Cemetery,  Antietam,  section 
26,  lot  C,  grave  3892;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

JOHN  H.  BEAVER,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  18,  1862 ;  promoted  to  corporal 
December  27,  1864;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  died  March  4,  1891;  from 
Columbia,  Pa. 

THOMAS  KELLEY,  corporal ;  enlisted  April  22,  1861 ;  wounded  May  6,  1864 ;  pro 
moted  to  corporal  December  24,  1864 ;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865 ;  killed  on 
railroad  (date  unknown)  ;  residence  at  time  of  enlistment,  Wrightsville,  Pa. 

ELIAS  M.  ARBOGAST,  corporal;  enlisted  October  11,  1861;  wounded  and  captured 
June  7,  1864,  while  on  picket  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va. ;  promoted  to  corporal 
January  27,  1865;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  died  March  7,  1884;  resi 
dence  at  time  of  enlistment,  -  — ,  Juniata  County,  Pa. 

GEORGE  BROUSE,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  10,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  May 
1,  1805;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Weedville,  Elk  County,  Pa. 

ISAAC  PIERCE,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  29,  1864 ;  promoted  to  corporal  May  1, 
1865;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865;  died  April  21,  1912. 

JACOB  W.  KLING,  corporal ;  enlisted  February  26,  1862 ;  promoted  to  sergeant 
June  1,  1864;  wounded  July  29,  1864,  in  front  of  Petersburg;  mustered  out 
July  17,  1865;  residence,  Mount  Carroll,  Illinois. 

ANDREW  HOSTETTER,  corporal;  enlisted  February  25,  1862;  promoted  to  corporal 
March  29,  1864;  wounded  May  6,  1864;  died  from  wound  May  27,  1864. 

DENNIS  DIGNAN,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  17,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  April 

22,  1864 ;  wounded  May  12,  1864 ;  died  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  June  14,  1864 ; 
from  Marietta,  Pa. 

HILLSTON  CARRS,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  April 
>,  1863;  reduced  August  27,  1863;  promoted  to  corporal  April  7,  1864;  died 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  July  7,  1864,  from  wounds  received  at  Wilderness 
May  6,  1864. 

HENRY  M.  WIRE,  corporal ;  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  No 
vember  14,  1861;  wounded  September  30,  1864,  at  Poplar  Springs  Church, 
Va. ;  died  October  1,  1864,  from  wounds;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

DAVID  M.  Moss,  corporal ;  enlisted  October  11,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  April 

23,  1863;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June  3,  1864. 

LEWIS  A.  WILLIAMS,  corporal;  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
March  29,  1864;  wounded  June  3,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died 
on  way  home  from  Andersonville  prison ;  date  of  death  unknown ;  from  Co 
lumbia,  Pa. 

GEORGE  H.  STAPE,  corporal;  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal 
March  28,  1862 ;  captured  June  7,  1864,  while  on  picket  duty  at  Cold  Harbor, 
Va. ;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  February  24,  1865 ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

LEWIS  MARTIN,  corporal;  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal  No 
vember  24,  1861 ;  died  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  March  10,  1864 ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 


Roster  of  Company  K  517 

ALBERT  ROBERTS,  musician;  enlisted  September  3,  1861;  sick  in  hospital  at  date  of 
muster  out  of  regiment  July  17,  1865 ;  residence  at  time  of  enlistment,  Co 
lumbia,  Pa. ;  residence  at  present  time,  Williamsport,  Pa. 

PRIVATES. 

ARNOLD,  HENRY  D.,  enlisted  September  1,  1862;  died  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  April  12, 
1864,  of  typhoid  fever;  residence  at  time  of  enlistment  unknown. 

BAGLEY,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  October  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

BAILEY,  JOHN  H.,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
December  23,  1864 ;  date  of  death  and  residence  unknown. 

BAIR,  L.  D.,  enlisted  February  17,  1864 ;  killed  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865. 

BARD,  HENRY  H.,  enlisted  September  17,  1862;  captured  September  30,  1864,  at 
Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va. ;  discharged  by  general  order  June  5,  1865 ;  resi 
dence,  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  County,  Pa. 

BARNHART,  BENJAMIN,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  captured  at  Poplar  Springs 
Church,  Va.,  September  30,  1864;  died  in  Salisbury  (N.  C.)  prison  January 
8,  1865;  residence  at  time  of  enlistment,  Newberry,  Pa. 

BELL,  JAMES  D.,  enlisted  October  11,  1861;  promoted  to  corporal  March  28,  1862; 
deserted  November  27,  1862,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

BENSON,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  October  11,  1861;  discharged  September  9,  1864, 
for  wounds  received  at  battle  of  Wilderness  May  6,  1864;  date  of  death  un 
known  ;  from  Mexico,  Juniata  County,  Pa. 

BOLAND,  PATRICK,  enlisted  March  21,  1864  (drafted)  ;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865. 

BOOKMAN,  JOHN  W.,  enlisted  October  7,  1861;  captured  September  30,  1864;  dis 
charged  by  general  order  June  5,  1865 ;  residence,  Columbia,  Pa. 

BOOKMAN,  SAMUEL  M.,  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  died  in  New  York  City 
Hospital  July  27,  1862;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

BOOKMAN,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  October  11,  1861;  captured  September  30,  1864, 
at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va. ;  died  March  26,  1903 ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

BOORMAN,  JACOB  N.,  enlisted  February  24,  1864;  died  June  26,  1864;  buried  at 
Alexandria,  Va.,  Grave  No.  2241. 

BOYER,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  October  2,  1861 ;  assigned  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
January  15,  1864 ;  date  of  death  unknovvn. 

BOYLE,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  15,  1862;  captured  July  30,  1864,  at  Peters 
burg,  Va. ;  discharged  by  special  order  June  13,  1865 ;  date  of  death  and 
residence  unknown. 

BRADY,  PETER,  enlisted  February  11,  1864;  killed  in  battle  of  Wilderness  May  6, 
1864;  from  Wrightsville,  Pa. 

BRANNAN,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  24,  1862;  deserted  at  Cincinnati  March  12, 
1863. 

BROUSE,  JAMES  W.,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  captured  and  died 
at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  March  1,  1865;  from  Weedville,  Elk  County,  Pa. 

BUTCHER,  JACOB,  enlisted  August  22,  1861  (company  cook)  ;  mustered  out  October 
20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  date  of  death  and  residence  un 
known, 

CAMPBELL,  JAMES,  enlisted  January  2,  1865 ;  substitute ;  deserted  January  23,  1865. 

CARPENTER,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  5,  1862 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  November  5,  1862;  date  of  death  unknown. 


518     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

CARROLL,  FRANCIS,  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  wounded  June  3,  1864,  at  Bethesda 
Church ;  died  at  Washington,  D.  C,  June  22,  1864,  of  wounds. 

CASSELL,  DAVID,  enlisted  August  9,  1864;  captured  at  Poplar  Springs  Church, 
Va.,  September  30,  1864;  sent  to  Salisbury,  N.  C. ;  died  in  1873. 

CHAMBERS,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  16,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862;  buried  in  Antietam  National  Cemetery,  section  26,  lot 
C.  grave  3888. 

CHAMBERS,  JAMES,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died 
at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  January  9,  1865. 

COFFEY,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  21,  18(i4 ;  substitute;  discharged  by  general 
order  July  12,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

COHICK,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  August  6,  1862;  captured  November  19,  1863;  died  in 
prison  ;  date  of  death  unknown ;  from  Newtown,  Pa. 

COLLINS,  DENNIS,  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  wounded  September  14,  1862,  at  South 
Mountain,  Aid.;  captured  June  7,  1864;  mustered  out  January  13,  1865;  from 
Columbia,  Pa. ;  died  in  Massachusetts ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

COLLINS,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  wounded  June  3,  1864;  mustered 
out  October  20,  1864,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service ;  died  at  his  home, 
Columbia,  Pa. ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

CONNER,  ARTHUR,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  substitute;  transferred  to  North 
western  Army  March  19,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

COSGROVE,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  deserted  October  23,  1861,  at  Wash 
ington,  D.  C. 

CRAWFORD,  FRANCIS  W.,  enlisted  February  1,  1862;  wounded  June  3,  1864;  absent 
in  York  (Pa.)  Hospital  at  muster  out;  date  of  death  unknown;  from 
Marietta,  Pa. 

CRONIN,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  in  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Home,  Bath,  N.  Y. 

DECKMAN,  CHARLES  A.,  enlisted  February  29,  1^64;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May 
6,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  January  8, 
1865. 

DIVET,  BENJAMIN  F.,  enlisted  February  25,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  August  11,  1862;  died  August  24,  1910,  at  his  residence,  Columbia,  Pa. 

DIVET,  PETE*,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at 
Salisbury,  N.  C.,  February  13,  1865;  burial  record  February  19,  1865;  from 
Xewtown,  Pa. 

DIXON,  THOMAS,  enlisted  October  10,  1861;  died  at  Camp  Casey,  Bladensburg, 
Md.,  November  17,  1861. 

DOLL,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  January  20,  1865 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  and  residence  unknown. 

DOUGHERTY,  J.  W.,  enlisted  February  15,  1862;  deserted  March  24,  1863. 

DOUGLAS,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  September  13,  1862;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  May 
12,  1864;  assigned  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  March  21,  1865;  residence,  165 
South  Fourth  Street,  Columbia,  Pa. 

DUNKELBARGER,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  5,  1861;  died  at  Otter  Island,  S.  C, 
December  17,  1861. 

EDLER,  DAVID  S.,  enlisted  March  8,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864; 
discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  June  15,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 


Roster  of  Company  K  519 


ELDER,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  18,  1861 ;  died  of  typhoid  fever  at  Newport 
News,  Va.,  July  27,  1862. 

ENNEY,  JOHN  E.,  enlisted  February  — ,  1862;  killed  at  Poplar  Springs  Church, 
Va.,  September  30,  1864 ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

EYDE,  THEODORE,  enlisted  February  26,  1864 ;  wounded  July  30,  1864,  at  Peters 
burg,  Va. ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  March  24,  1865 ;  from  Colum 
bia,  Pa. ;  died  July  8,  1890. 

FINDLEY,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6, 
1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. ;  died 
July  — ,  1910. 

FISHER,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  September  3,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865;  from  Marietta,  Pa.;  died  December  5,  1879. 

FISHER,  JACOB  M.,  enlisted  September  5,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md., 
September  14,  1862 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  February  21,  1863 ; 
date  of  death  and  residence  unknown. 

FISHER,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  28,  1864;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  May  12, 
1864 ;  captured  September  30,  1864 ;  died  at  Newberry,  Pa.,  March  30,  1865. 

FITZKEE,  HENRY,  enlisted  February  29,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864 ; 
discharged  by  general  order  June  20,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown ;  from 
York  County,  Pa. 

FRANK,  JOHN  W.,  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  died  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  April  23, 
1864. 

GARDNER,  PETER,  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  captured  September  30,  1864,  at  Pop 
lar  Springs  Church,  Va. ;  died  at  his  home,  Columbia,  Pa.,  April  4,  1865, 
from  effects  of  imprisonment. 

GELTMACHER,  JACOB,  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  captured  September  30,  1864 ;  dis 
charged  by  general  order  June  5,  1865 ;  died  July  31,  1908 ;  from  Newtown,  Pa. 

GILBERT,  FRANCIS  W.,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June 
3,  1864 ;  mustered  out  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

GILBERT,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  killed  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864 ; 
from  York  County,  Pa. 

GOON,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  October  10,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
October  17,  1861,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.;  residence  and  date  of  death  unknown. 

GRAY,  JEREMIAH,  enlisted  September  21,  1861;  deserted  September  7,  1862;  re 
turned  and  deserted  March  20,  1863 ;  returned  February  8,  1865 ;  mustered 
out  July  17,  1865 ;  died  February  20,  1883 ;  from  Marietta,  Pa. 

GRAY,  WILSON,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HAINES,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  October  10,  1861;  wounded  September  17,  1862,  at  An- 
tietam;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  in  prison  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  Feb 
ruary  6,  1865. 

HARRIS,  CALVIN,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864; 
captured  September  30,  1864;  died  in  hospital  at  York,  Pa.,  March  31,  1865; 
from  Wrightsville,  Pa. 

HECK,  ISRAEL,  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17, 
1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HENRY,  CHARLES,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 


520 


Fortv-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 


HERLEMAN,  HENRY,  enlisted  December  20,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HETRICK,  ISAIAH,  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain  Sep 
tember  14,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  at  York  Hospital  May 
18,  1863;  date  of  death  unknown. 

HILL,  THOMAS,  enlisted  September  9,  1861 ;  wounded  September  14,  1862,  at  South 
Mountain;  died  October  6,  1862,  of  wounds  received. 

HINKLE,  JOHN  J.,  enlisted  February  18,  1862;  captured  September  30,  1864;  mus 
tered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Kylertown,  Clearfield 
County,  Pa. 

HOFFNER,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  killed  at  Spottsylvania  May  12,  1864; 
buried  in  Wilderness  burying  grounds. 

HOGENTOGLER,  SIMON,  enlisted  February  19,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June 
3,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Richmond,  Va.,  February  28, 
1865. 

HOINE,  SAMUEL  E.,  enlisted  August  23,  1862;  reduced  from  sergeant  to  ranks 
January  2,  1863;  deserted  January  22,  1863,  at  Falmouth,  Va. 

HOSTETTER,  JOHN  F.,  enlisted  February  23,  1864;  wounded  at  Petersburg  June  23, 
1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  February  9,  1865;  date  of  death 
unknown. 

Hours,  EDWARD,  enlisted  September  8,  1861 ;  killed  by  rebel  sharpshooter  June 
27,  1864,  near  Petersburg,  Va. 

HOWARD,  JACOB,  enlisted  February  22,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  con 
fined  in  prison  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. ;  discharged  by  general  order  June  15, 
1865 ;  residence,  York  County,  Pa. 

HOWE,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  January  2,  1865;  substitute;  deserted  January  20,  1865; 
served  18  days. 

JOHNSON,  WILLIAM  M.,  enlisted  September  23,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's 
certificate  November  28,  1864 ;  residence,  Barclay,  Queen  Anne  County,  Md. 

KAHOE,  THOMAS,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1864. 

KAUFFMAN,  BENJAMIN,  enlisted  October  7,  1861;  captured  November  16,  1863; 
died  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  August  18,  1864;  Grave  No.  6028;  from  Mount- 
ville,  Lancaster  County,  Pa. 

KELLAR,  OSCAR,  enlisted  September  9,  1861;  died  on  Otter  Island,  S.  C.,  of  ty 
phoid  fever  March  26,  1862;  from  Wrightsville,  Pa. 

KELLEY,  JOHN,  enlisted  September  24,  1861,  deserted  from  U.  S.  Hospital,  Mid- 
dletown,  Md.,  December  20,  1862;  from  York  County,  Pa. 

KENNEDY,  PATRICK,  enlisted  September  23,  1861 ;  deserted  November  20,  1862. 

KEPLAR,  JACOB,  enlisted  October  22,  1861;  killed  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  Sep 
tember  14,  1862 ;  buried  in  National  Cemetery  at  Antietam,  Section  26,  Lot  C, 
Grave  3893. 

KLUGH,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  November  1,  1864  (drafted)  ;  discharged  by  special 
order  June  30,  1865. 

KLUTE,  ROBERT,  enlisted  December  21,  1864 ;  substitute ;  deserted  June  20,  1865. 
LAMBERSON,  CHARLES,  enlisted  February  18,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864; 
died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  January  29,  1865. 


Roster  of  Company  K  521! 

LEASE,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3, 
1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865. 

LEHMAN,  GEORGE  W.,  enlisted  February  18,  1862;  wounded  July,  1864;  captured 
September  30,  1864;  died  April  3,  1865,  at  his  home  in  Columbia,  Pa.,  from 
effects  of  imprisonment. 

LITZ,  (DANIEL  OR  DAVID),  enlisted  October  10,  1861;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  January  2,  1862 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

LONG,  JEROME,  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  discharged  December  5,  1864,  for 
wounds  received  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864;  died  at  his  home  in  Colum 
bia,  Pa.,  May  23,  1907. 

LOWBACKER,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  February  25,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

LOWE,  JOHN  F.,  enlisted  August  17,  1864;  substitute;  discharged  by  general  order 
June  30,  1865. 

MAGILL,  GEORGE,  enlisted  October  11,  1861;  wounded  at  Spottsylvania  May  12, 
1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  February  14, 
1865. 

MALONEY,  THOMAS,  enlisted  February  22,  1864 ;  killed  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  30, 
1864. 

MARTIN,  THOMAS,  enlisted  January  2,  1865;  substitute;  deserted  January  25,  1865. 

McBRiDE,  THOMAS,  enlisted  October  5,  1861;  deserted  June  3,  1864,  at  Bethesda 
Church,  Va. ;  from  Marietta,  Pa. 

MCCARTY,  GEORGE,  enlisted  February  26,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.,  June 
3,  1864 ;  discharged  by  special  order  May  30,  1865 ;  residence,  York,  Pa. 

McDADE,  THOMAS,  enlisted  December  28,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

MCFARLAND,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865. 

McLAiN,  JOSEPH,  enlisted  August  27,  1861 ;  captured  November  16,  1863,  at  Camp 
bells  Station,  Tenn. ;  died  in  Andersonville  prison ;  date  of  death  unknown ; 
from  Columbia,  Pa. 

MCLAUGHLIN,  OSWALD,  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va., 
June  3,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  now  at  National 
Military  Home,  Dayton,  Ohio ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

MILES,  JOHN  L.,  enlisted  August  17,  1861;  promoted  to  sergeant  March  28,  1862; 
reduced  to  ranks  January  2,  1863;  captured  at  Clynch  Mountain,  Tenn., 
December  14,  1863;  discharged  May  12,  1865;  from  Columbia,  Pa.;  date 
of  death  unknown. 

MILLER,  DAVID,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  residence,  212  East  Fifty-second  Street,  Portland  Oregon. 

MILLER,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknowrn. 

MITCHELL,  JAMES  G.,  enlisted  March  27,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  16,  1863 ;  residence  and  date  of  death  unknown. 

MOORE,  JOHN  F.,  enlisted  March  1,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864;  died  at 
Salisbury,  N.  C.,  January  19,  1865. 

MOORE,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  January  11,  1865. 


^22     Fort\-Uifth   Pennsylvania    J'cteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

HOSTELLER,  MICHAEL,  enlisted  October  6,  1864  (drafted)  ;  discharged  by  special 
order  June  8,  1865 ;  died  July  9,  1897. 

MULLEN,  AMOS,  enlisted  August  9,  1861;  promoted  to  quartermaster  sergeant 
October  21,  1861;  captured  December  14,  1863;  discharged  December  — ,  1864; 
died  December  27,  1905 ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

MUMMA,  PETER  H.,  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  wounded  at  Antietam  September  17, 
1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  January  2,  1863;  date  of  death  un 
known;  residence,  Silver  Springs,  Pa. 

MYERS,  EDWARD,  enlisted  September  9,  1862;  deserted  March  12,  1864. 

MYERS,  JACOB  H.,  enlisted  February  17,  1862;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865 ;  from  Columbia,  Pa. ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

MYERS,  SAMUEL  C,  enlisted  September  8,  1862 ;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3, 
1864;  discharged  July,  1864;  date  of  death  unknown. 

MYERS,  SAMUEL  E.,  enlisted  February  24,  1862;  wounded  by  a  sharpshooter  at 
Spottsylvania  May  14,  1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  resi 
dence,  Newtown,  Pa. 

NASH,  FRANCIS,  enlisted  November  30,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  date  of  death  and  residence  unknown. 

NEELEY,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  October  3,  1864  (drafted)  ;  killed  at  Petersburg,  Va., 
April  2,  1865. 

O'BRIEN,  JOHN  C.,  enlisted  September  24,  1861 ;  wounded  at  Petersburg,  Va., 
June  27,  1864;  discharged  February  2,  1865,  for  wounds  received;  residence, 
Marietta,  Pa. 

PALMER,  JAMES,  enlisted  November  29,  1864 ;  substitute ;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

PEART,  JOHN,  enlisted  February  27,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  De 
cember  7,  1862 ;  died  January  24,  1906. 

PORTER,  JOHN  C.,  enlisted  October  11,  1861;  assigned  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
November  25,  1863 ;  residence,  Abilene,  Kansas. 

PYFER,"  JOSEPH,  enlisted  February  29,  1864 ;  wounded  and  captured  September  30, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Jersey  Shore, 
Lycoming  County,  Pa. 

PYFER,  LEVI,  enlisted  September  8,  1861;  wounded  at  Petersburg  August  9,  1864; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Newberry,  Lycoming 
County,  Pa. 

QUIGLEY,  THOMAS,  enlisted  November  29,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Miners  Mill,  Luzerne  County,  Pa. 

RASELEY,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  22,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865;  residence,  No.  37  Charles  Street,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 

REES,  LEWIS,  enlisted  March  27,  1862 ;  mustered  out  March  27,  1865,  at  expiration 
of  term  of  service;  date  of  death  unknown. 

REIGHARD,  SAMUEL  A.,  enlisted  September  8,  1861;  killed  in  action  on  Seabrook 
Island,  S.  C.,  March  13,  1862. 

REIGHARD,  WILLIAM  H.,  enlisted  September  8,  1861;  died  March  14,  1862,  of 
wounds  received  in  action  on  Seabrook  Island,  S.  C.,  March  13,  1862. 

RHAWN,  ISAAC,  enlisted  March  27,  1862;  deserted  July  6,  1864;  under  arrest  at 
date  of  muster  out. 

RICHTER,  CHARLES,  enlisted  March  28,  1862 ;  deserted  September  19,  1862. 


James  Stonecypher 
Company  K 


Roster  of  Company  K  523 

ROADS,  GEORGE,  enlisted  September  8,  1861 ;  detailed  in  ambulance  corps ;  mustered 
out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  residence,  Cogan  Station,  Lycoming  Co.,  Pa. 

ROBERTS,  WILLIAM  A.,  enlisted  August  9,  1862 ;  wounded  May  6,  1864,  in  Wilder 
ness  ;  transferred  from  Campbell  Hospital  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  to  York 
(Pa.)  Hospital;  assigned  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  January  1,  1865;  de 
tailed  to  publish  "The  Cartridge  Box,"  a  little  paper  printed  in  the  hospital ; 
mustered  out  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  August  19,  1865 ;  residence,  Langdon,  D.  C. 

RODGERS,  JAMES,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  substitute;  deserted  January  11, 
1865. 

ROPP,  DAVID  R.  P.,  enlisted  February  18,  1864 ;  wounded  and  captured  July  30, 
1864 ;  died  of  wounds  July  31,  1864,  at  Richmond,  Va. 

RYAN,  JOHN,  enlisted  August  27,  1861 ;  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  Md.,  Sep 
tember  14,  1862 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  December  26,  1862 ;  died 
January  11,  1901. 

SANDERS,  SIMON,  enlisted  September  21,  1861 ;  deserted  September  19,  1862 ;  re 
turned  April  23,  1863 ;  killed  at  Wilderness  May  6,  1864 ;  interred  in  Wilder 
ness  burying  ground ;  from  Marietta,  Pa. 

SAUNDERS,  WILLIAM,  enlisted  February  27,  1864;  captured  September  30,  1864; 
taken  to  Salisbury  (N.  C.)  prison;  mustered  out  August  17,  1865;  residence, 
113  Church  Street,  South  Williamsport,  Pa. 

SEIPLE,  GEORGE  F.,  enlisted  February  26,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6, 
1864 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865 ;  died  February  7,  1878 ;  from 
Columbia,  Pa. 

SEITZ,  JOHN  G.,  enlisted  March  27,  1862 ;  died  at  Milldale,  Miss.,  July  27,  1863, 
from  fever  contracted  in  Mississippi  campaign. 

SHANNON,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  21,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com 
pany  July  17,  1865. 

SHARR,  JOHN  F.,  enlisted  October  2,  1861 ;  drowned  in  Potomac  River  August  13, 
1862. 

SMITH,  RICHARD,  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  deserted  September  7,  1862. 

STEIN,  CHARLES,  enlisted  September  16,  1861.;  died  in  York  Hospital  February  16, 
1864;  buried  in  Prospect  Hill  Cemetery,  York,  Pa. 

STONECYPHER,  ALONSO,  enlisted  October  2,  1861 ;  prisoner  from  June  7,  1864,  to 
April  29,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  5,  1865;  in  National  Mili 
tary  Home,  Indiana. 

STONECYPHER,  JAMES,  enlisted  September  8,  1861 ;  wounded  March  12,  1862 ;  cap 
tured  June  18,  1864,  at  Petersburg,  Va. ;  returned  to  duty  January  13,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company  June  17,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown. 

STOUFFER,  HENRY,  enlisted  September  16,  1861 ;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certifi 
cate  December  31,  1862 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

STRICKLER,  PETER  K.,  enlisted  March  9,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

STUDENROTH,  MARTIN,  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  deserted  September  19,  1862. 

SULLIVAN,  TIMOTHY,  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  promoted  to  corporal  March  28, 
1862;  reduced  to  ranks  August  17,  1862;  discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate 
February  14,  1863 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

SUMPMAN,  JOHN  F.,  enlisted  August  21,  1861;  captured  June  7,  1864;  released 
April  21,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  9,  1865;  residence,  Mt. 
Joy,  Lancaster  County,  Pa. 


524     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry 

SUMPMAN,  SAMUEL,  enlisted  February  29,  1864;  wounded  at  Wilderness  May  6, 
18G4;  mustered  out  with  company  July  17,  1865;  residence,  Maytown,  Lan 
caster  County,  Pa. 

SWEARS,  FRANCIS  P.,  enlisted  August  7,  1862;  prisoner  from  June  7,  1864,  to 
April  1,  1865;  discharged  by  general  order  June  13,  1865;  date  of  death  un 
known;  from  Columbia,  Pa. 

VACHE,  HOWARD  W.,  enlisted  October  7,  1861 ;  wounded  in  action  on  Seabrook 
Island,  S.  C,  March  13,  1862 ;  died  June  8,  1864,  of  wounds  received  at  Cold 
Harbor  June  3,  1864;  from  Wrightsville,  Pa. 

WAGNER,  AUGUSTUS,  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  died  June  16,  1862,  of  wounds 
received  in  action  at  Seabrook  Island,  S.  C.,  March  13,  1862. 

WARD,  JOHN  F.,  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  transferred  to  Company  F  April  30, 
1864 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

WEAVER,  REUBEN,  enlisted  August  22,  1861 ;  wounded  May  6,  1864,  at  the  Wilder 
ness;  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864;  discharged  on  surgeon's  cer 
tificate  May  30,  1865;  date  of  death  unknown;  from  Marietta,  Pa. 

WEAVER,  SAMUEL  B.,  enlisted  February  25,  1864 ;  wounded  May  6,  1864,  in  Wilder 
ness ;  loss  of  arm;  absent  in  hospital  at  muster  out  of  company;  residence, 
No.  1006  O  Street  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

WEIGAND,  AUGUSTUS,  enlisted  October  11,  1861 ;  reported  missing  in  Battle  of 
Wilderness  May  6,  1864. 

WILLIAMS,  JOHN,  enlisted  December  23,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  17,  1865 ;  date  of  death  unknown. 

WOODS,  JOHN  S.,  enlisted  August  22,  1861;  missing  in  action  at  Petersburg,  Va., 
July  30,  1864. 

YOUGH,  JACOB,  enlisted  September  22,  1861 ;  promoted  to  sergeant  November  28, 
1862 ;  reduced  to  ranks  November  24,  1863 ;  deserted  at  York,  Pa.,  March  19, 
1864. 


BREVET  COLONEL  THEODORE  GREGG 

BY  LIEUTENANT  W.  T.  FITZGERALD. 

"One  of  the  few  immortal  names 

That  were  not  born  to  die." 

Fifty  years  is  a  long  time  to  remember  scenes  that  were  enacted  and  inci 
dents  that  occurred  in  that  dark  period  of  our  country's  history  which  has  left 
an  impress  on  the  minds  of  the  survivors  who  participated  in  the  grand  effort  to 
save  the  Union. 

The  combatants,  an  army  of  the  bravest  men  the  world  has  ever  seen,  sol 
diers,  brothers,  Americans  all,  one  people,  one  blood,  in  comparison  with  whom 
the  famed  warriors  of  Greece  or  Rome,  or  the  conscripted  legions  of  Monarchial 
Europe  fade  into  insignificance. 

The  issue   Slavery  or  Freedom, 
The  cause  man's  ambition, 
The  verdict  God's  justice. 

Colonel  Theodore  Gregg  was  born  in  Central  City— now  a  part  of  Milesburg, 
Center  County,  Pa.— in  the  year  1820,  where  he  died  July,  1878,  aged  58  years. 


Brevet  Colonel  Theodore  Gregg; 


He  became  a  soldier  in  the  Florida  War.  At  the  end  of  that  war  he  entered 
the  navy,  where  he  remained  until  the  commencement  of  hostilities  with  Mexico. 

Having  finished  his  time  in  the  navy,  he  enlisted  in  the  regular  army  and 
became  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Infantry  (under  General  Taylor),  stationed 
along  the  Rio  Grande,  the  same  regiment  in  which  U.  S.  Grant  was  acting 
quartermaster.  He  met  General  Grant  afterward  when  the  Forty-fifth  was  in 
front  of  Petersburg  and  had  a  very  pleasant  chat  about  the  Mexican  War.  After 
the  battle  of  Monterey  most  of  the  regulars  were  sent  to  Vera  Cruz  to  join 
Scott,  who  assumed  the  chief  command  for  the  invasion  of  Mexico ;  the  Fourth 
Infantry — Worth's  Division — among  the  rest. 

He  served  through  the  Mexican  War,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  enlist 
ment  came  back  to  Pennsylvania  and  spent  some  time  among  his  old  friends. 

His  next  appearance  of  note  was  during  the  Fall  campaign  of  1852  when 
General  Scott  received  the  nomination  for  president.  Gregg  was  a  warm  ad 
mirer  of  his  "Old  Commander"  and  at  once  took  the  "Stump,"  making  a  vigor 
ous  effort  through  his  native  State  for  Scott  and  the  Whig  party. 

When  the  Civil  War  commenced  he  joined  the  company  of  the  late  General 
John  I.  Curtin,  and  was  mustered  as  first  lieutenant  of  Company  A,  October, 
1861.  He  was  made  adjutant  of  the  regiment  and  at  South  Carolina,  March,  1862, 
was  promoted  to  captain  of  Company  F.  He  was  wounded  at  South  Mountain, 
September  14th,  1862,  while  gallantly  leading  his  men  in  that  bloody  affair. 

He  participated  in  all  the  successes  and  reverses  of  the  Forty-fifth  that  fol 
lowed,  receiving  various  promotions,  but  it  was  at  the  crater  in  front  of  Peters 
burg  that  he  proved  himself  a  hero ;  at  the  head  of  106  men  he  was  ordered  to 
enter  the  fort  immediately  after  the  explosion,  and  gallantly  he  and  his  little 
band  advanced  into  the  very  jaws  of  death ;  not  being  properly  supported  the 
enemy  saw  and  took  advantage  of  this,  rallied  an  overwhelming  force,  and  soon 
one  of  the  most  bloody  hand-to-hand  encounters  that  took  place  during  the  war 
was  in  progress.  During  the  fight  the  troops  suffered  for  water  and  ran  short 
of  ammunition,  still  no  help ;  a  large  Rebel  officer  approached  Colonel  Gregg  and, 
pointing  a  revolver  at  his  head,  ordered  him  to  surrender.  Gregg  quickly  knocked 
him  down  and  ran  his  sword  through  him,  breaking  his  sword  in  the  act.  No 
wonder  General  Bartlett  presented  his  own  sword  to  Gregg  to  continue  the 
fight.  Colonel  Gregg  was  one  of  the  best  swordsmen  among  the  volunteers,  hav 
ing  acquired  the  art  in  the  navy. 

He  was  made  prisoner  September  30th,  1864,  and  rejoined  his  regiment 
February,  1865;  subsequently  mustered  out  July  17th,  1865,  with  the  rank  of 
brevet  colonel.  Justice  was  never  done  Colonel  Gregg;  he  was  one  of  the  most 
gallant  soldiers  at  the  front,  and  should  have  worn  a  star. 

He  was  a  man  of  medium  height,  well  built  and  soldierly  in  appearance,  a 
most  fluent  talker,  a  faithful  friend,  a  heart  tender  as  a  woman's,  and  always  a 
gentleman. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Center  County,  where  he  resided  until 
his  death.  He  was  married  after  he  came  home.  Two  daughters  still  survive 
him.  His  wife  and  one  son,  Theodore,  lie  buried  near  him,  in  the  little  ceme 
tery  at  Curtin. 


526     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

Strew  flowers  on  the  grave  of  our  patriot  dead, 
A  Friend  and  a  Comrade  lies  here, 
Scatter  bright  immortelles,  a  crown  for  the  head 
That  in  life  never  faltered  in  fear. 

A  hand  ever  ready  the  Flag  to  defend, 

A  heart  that  was  honest  and  true, 

A  blow  for  the  tyrant,  a  smile  for  the  friend, 

And  a  tear  for  affliction  he  knew. 

No  towering  memorial  laureled  and  doved, 
His  deeds  or  his  virtues  proclaim, 
But  the  Country  he  served,  the  people  he  loved 
Will  honor  and  cherish  his  name. 


MAJOR  R.  C.  CHEESEMAN 

A.  D.  ALBERT. 

On  March  25th,  1910,  there  passed  from  death  to  life  the  soul  of  Roland  C. 
Cheeseman,  who  in  the  Civil  War  was  Captain  of  Company  A,  Forty-fifth  Penn 
sylvania  Volunteer  Infantry.  His  remains  were  followed  to  Arlington  Ceme 
tery,  Virginia,  by  all  the  members  of  the  Washington,  D.  C.,  Association  of 
the  Survivors  of  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry.  Comrades  A. 
D.  Albert  and  W.  A.  Roberts  were  of  the  pall  bearers,  and,  while  his  body  re 
poses  in  a  soldier's  grave,  his  spirit  still  lives  to  enthuse  and  encourage  his  sur 
viving  comrades  to  carry  on  the  work  which  filled  his  soul — the  compilation  of  a 
history  of  his  beloved  regiment. 

At  the  regimental  reunion  at  Williamsport,  Pa.,  March  2,  1910,  he  remarked : 
"We  must  hurry  and  get  out  our  history  before  we  die."  His  heart  was  bound 
up  in  that  project  and  his  pen  was  busy  urging  other  comrades  to  contribute 
material  for  the  history  and  the  means  to  publish  it. 

Roland  C.  Cheeseman  enlisted  April  18th,  1861,  from  Center  County,  Pa.,  as 
a  private  in  Company  H,  Second  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry  (three 
months),  and  was  discharged  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  August  18th,  1861.  Reen- 
listed  same  day  for  three  years  as  a  private  in  Company  A,  Forty-fifth  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  discharged  July  17th,  1865,  at  Alexandria, 
Va.  He  was  promoted  to  rank  of  first  sergeant,  September  25th,  1862,  for  bravq 
and  meritorious  conduct  at  the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam,  Md. ; 
to  second  lieutenant,  March  18th,  1863,  to  captain,  September  29th,  1864,  and 
breveted  major,  April  2d,  1865.  He  was  wounded  in  the  right  knee  arid  right 
shoulder,  at  Blue  Springs,  Tenn.,  October  10th,  1863,  and  again  wounded  in 
the  right  foot,  June  17th,  1864,  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  and  wounded  in  right  shoul 
der  and  back  of  head  at  Poplar  Springs  Church,  Va.,  September  30th,  1864,  and 
there  captured  and  taken  to  Libbey  prison,  Richmond,  Va.  He  was  exchanged 
and  took  command  of  his  regiment  in  February,  1865.  In  the  final  assault  on 
Petersburg,  April  2d,  1865,  he  was  wounded  in  the  right  knee,  rendering  im 
mediate  amputation  necessary. 


Brevet  Major  R.  C.  Cheeseman 
Died   March  25,  1910 


Captain  John   O.   Campbell 

Company  E 

Mortally  wounded,  May  6,  1864 
Died  May  7,  1854 


Captain  John  O.  Campbell  527 

He  was  stricken  in  his  home  by  apoplexy  and  died  24  hours  later,  on  March 
25th,  1910. 

Major  Cheeseman  was  born  in  Center  County,  Pa.,  April  20th,  1839,  and 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Eliza  T.  Hillibish,  at  Bellefonte,  November  15th, 
1865.  His  wife  and  three  children  remain  to  lament  the  loss  of  a  loving  hus 
band  and  a  kind  father.  His  associates  lament  the  passing  of  a  brave  comrade 
and  a  knightly  gentleman. 


JOHN  OLIVER  CAMPBELL,  COMPANY  E 

SEPTEMBER  2,  18(51. 

The  beautiful  glades  of  Center  County,  Pa.,  never  looked  lovelier  than  on 
that  early  September  morn  as  a  family  group  stood  on  the  front  porch  of  a  pleas 
ant  farm  house — father,  mother,  two  daughters  and  one  son.  "Goodbye,  mother," 
said  the  young  man.  A  silent  pressure  of  the  hand  and  he  turns  from  the  home 
of  childhood  and,  with  a  friend,  walks  briskly  down  the  road  to  "The  Pines !" 

Some  80  young  men,  the  flowers  of  the  valley,  are  gathering  to  "The  Pines" 
to  start  for  "The  War." 

When  the  father  and  sisters  join  him  at  the  grove  they  find  almost  the 
whole  valley  of  men,  women  and  children  there.  Strong  hearts  but  trembling 
hands  have  prepared  a  bountiful  dinner ;  religious  services  are  held  and  "The 
Boys"  are  off. 

That  young  man  is  known  in  the  pages  of  this  book  as  "Captain"  John  O. 
Campbell,  Company  E — to  the  writer  he  was  "Oliver,"  her  playmate  brother. 
After  the  lapse  of  58  years  I  am  requested  to  "Write  a  sketch"  of  him. 

How  can  I  present  him  to  strangers.  Few  that  knew  him  will  read  these 
pages.  He  was  the  third  son  of  John  Campbell  who  settled  on  the  Glades  in 
1811.  His  two  older  brothers  having  married  and  left  home  while  he  was  a  boy. 

OLIVER  FARMED  FOR  His  FATHER. 

By  the  sweat  of  his  brow  he  was  the  main  support  of  the  family,  but  as  he 
toiled  on  and  on  he  made  all  around  him  happy  by  a  breezy  cheerfulness  and 
quiet  humor. 

While  this  pleasing  trait  shone  pre-eminently  in  his  family  circle  it  was 
also  a  charm  in  the  cultured  society  of  his  valley. 

A  CLOSE  OBSERVER. 

The  family  meal  was  enlivened  by  his  spicy  description  of  a  bird,  squirrel, 
or  fleecy  cloud  that  had  interested  him  while  busy  in  field. 

AN  INVENTIVE  MIND 

produced  conveniences  for  barn  and  field — while  in  the  army  "His  Boys''   were 
merry  over  a  curious  chair  the  "Captain"  had  made  of  crooked  sticks. 

His   SCHOOL  DAYS 

were  confined  to  the   winters  of  boyhood  in   the   Old   Glades   schoolhouse — but 
a   thirst   for   something   higher   was   imbibed,   as   the   children   often    sat   in   the 


528     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania  Veteran   Volunteer  Infantry 

family   room,    eager  listeners   to   lively   debates   between   our  parents    and   their 
guests  on  current  matters  of  church  or  state,  or  the  merits  of  a  new  book. 

Hence  Oliver  often  had  a  book  in  hand  while  resting  horses  in  the  plow — 
and  winter  evenings  of  his  young  manhood  were  spent  "Not  in  stores,"  but  in 
the  study  of  books  on  theology,  history  and  science.  "  Tis  wonderful,"  writes 
one  from  the  army,  "how  Captain  C.  can  talk  on  books  with  college  men." 

A  lover  of  the  Bible,  the  Sabbath  and  the  House  of  God  he  often  spoke  of 
the  loth  Psalm  as  descriptive  of  the  true  Christian ;  also  of  Elihu  refraining  from 
speaking  till  his  elders  were  through. 

His  army  letters  were  full  of  devotion  to  his  God,  his  country  and  his  home. 

His  regiment,  sometimes  called  "The  Wandering,"  was  found  in  Maryland, 
Fortress  Monroe,  South  Carolina,  Virginia,  again  Kentucky,  Mississippi,  Ken 
tucky  again,  Tennessee  and  again  in  Virginia  with  Grant's  last  bloody  campaign. 

After  almost  three  years  of  privations  and  hardships  known  only  to  the 
soldiers  he  fell  in  the  Wilderness  May  6th,  1864.  In  front  of  his  men  crying 
"Rally  Round  the  Flag,"  a  ball  pierced  his  bowels,  his  blood  stained  the  soil — 
after  28  hours  intense  sufferings  his  spirit  entered  the  haven  of  rest — his  pre 
cious  mangled  body  was  left  to  moulder  into  dust  in  a  grave  never  decorated 
because  never  found. 

Said  an  elderly  man  of  his  home  neighborhood,  "I  knew  no  young  man  of 
brighter  prospects,  or  of  more  sterling  qualities,  nor  one  who  enlisted  under 
a  more  profound  sense  of  duty."  All  speak  of  him  as  "noble,  brave,  an  efficient 
officer  and  most  agreeable  companion." 

The  tender  ministrations  of  Mr.  A.  Osman,  one  of  his  company,  during  the 
last  hours  of  the  captain's  sufferings,  and  his  affectionate  leave-taking  of  the 
precious  remains  on  the  top  of  that  pontoon  wagon  have  the  warmest  gratitude 
of  the  writer.  Says  Osman,  "I  straightened  his  hair,  wiped  off  his  face  and 
left  him  crying,  'O,  my  poor  dead  captain!'" 

Should  these  lines  meet  the  eyes  of  the  colonel  who  lay  by  the  side  of 
Captain  Campbell  when  he  died,  or  the  man  in  citizen's  dress  who  asked,  "Dear 
captain,  are  you  ready  to  die,"  to  whom  the  captain  said,  "My  peace  with  God 
is  made,"  how  gladly  would  the  writer  hear  from  them. 

Of  the  group  on  the  porch  that  September  morn  the  mother  went  suddenly 
home  about  six  weeks  after  her  son  left — the  father  followed  in  nine  months. 
The  sisters  remained  together  for  many  years  in  the  "Old,  old  home,"  when 
the  elder  answered  the  call,  "Come  up  higher,"  and  the  younger,  the  writer, 
became  the  wife  of  Rev.  J.  M.  Adair,  Indiana,  Pa.  Another  sister,  Mrs.  H.  W. 
McCracken,  who  had  married  and  left  home  before  "the  war"  still  lives,  and 
with  her  husband  is  on  their  farm-home  adjoining  the  old  Campbell  homestead. 
His  brothers  died  years  ago. 

MRS.  J.  M.  ADAIR, 
May  15,  1911.  Indiana,  Pa. 


Lieutenant  Robb  and  Reminiscences  529 

LIEUTENANT  LEVI  R.  ROBB 

COMPANY  H,  FORTY-FIFTH  PENNSYLVANIA  VOLUNTEER  INFANTRY. 

Enlisted  at  Tioga,  Pa.,  September  18th,  1861,  as  sergeant.  Reenlisted  January 
1st,  1864.  Was  promoted  to  second  lieutenant  January  24th,  1865. 

Was  wounded  at  Antietam,  Md.  Mortally  wounded  in  front  of  Petersburg, 
Va.,  April  2,  1865.  Died  in  City  Point  Hospital  April  9,  1865.  Was  buried  in 
the  old  family  lot  in  the  Farmington  Hill  Cemetery,  when  about  27  years  of  age. 

He  was  a  faithful  worker  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  as  well  as  a  gallant 
soldier. 

Lieutenant  Robb  lay  mortally  \vounded  and  slowly  dying  on  a  hospital  cot 
in  one  of  the  officers'  wards  at  City  Point,  when  President  Lincoln  made  his 
memorable  tour  among  the  wounded  and  dying  there.  Lieutenant  Robb  was  ter 
ribly  wounded  by  a  shell  in  the  left  breast  and  shoulder.  He  was  unable  to  move 
his  body  and  was  barely  able  to  raise  his  right  arm  from  the  covers.  He  was 
perfectly  conscious  and  knew  he  could  not  live,  yet  uttered  no  word  of  com 
plaint.  My  cot  was  the  third  from  tent  entrance  ;  his  was  fourth  on  the  same 
side.  His  face  was  turned  slightly  toward  me  as  I  sat  talking  to  him  in  a 
low  tone.  The  hour  was  just  before  noon.  I  heard  a  slight  rustle  of  canvas 
behind  me.  Suddenly  his  eyes  opened  wide  and  his  face  lit  up  with  a  happy 
expression  of  recognition  as  he  spoke  in  a  clear  but  feeble  voice,  "The  Presi 
dent."  President  Lincoln  had  stepped  into  the  tent  unannounced  and  alone. 
Instantly  those  who  could  stand  were  on  their  feet  at  "attention."  Then  amid 
a  quiet  hush  his  towering  form  passed  swiftly  from  cot  to  cot  with  extended 
hand  and  a  kind  word  of  greeting  to  each  occupant.  When  he  reached  Lieu 
tenant  Robb's  cot  he  grasped  his  feebly  extended  hand  as  he  cheerily  said,  "God 
bless  you."  Slowly  and  deliberately  came  the  reply,  "He  has,  Mr.  President, 
and  may  it  be  your  happy  portion,  too."  The  President  paused  just  a  moment, 
as  he  looked  with  compassion  into  the  wan  face  of  the  wounded  officer,  and 
said,  "It  is,  but  cheer  up,  my  boy,  we'll  meet  again,"  and  then  passed  on  to 
cheer  others.  The  next  day  Lieutenant  Robb  passed  away.  The  President's 
visit  and  this  pathetic  incident  I  shall  never  forget. 

T.  J.  DAVIES. 

FROM  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

BY  GENERAL  JOHN  B.  GORDON. 

In  one  of  the  battles  in  the  Wilderness,  in  1864,  and  during  a  flank  move 
ment,  a  thoroughbred  bay  stallion  wras  captured — a  magnificent  creature,  said  to 
have  been  the  favorite  war-horse  of  General  Shaler,  whom  we  also  captured. 
As  was  customary,  the  horse  was  named  for  his  former  master,  and  was  knowrn 
by  no  other  title  than  "General  Shaler."  My  obligations  to  this  horse  are  two 
fold  and  memorable ;  he  saved  me  from  capture,  when  I  had  ridden,  by  mistake, 
into  Sedgwick's  corps  by  night;  and  at  Appomattox  he  brought  me  enough 
greenbacks  to  save  me  from  walking  back  to  Georgia.  He  was  so  handsome  that 


S^o     Forty-Fifth  Pennsylvania   Veteran    Volunteer  Infantry 

a  Union  officer,  who  was  a  judge  of  horses,  asked  me  if  I  wished  to  sell  him. 
I  at  once  assured  this  officer  that  I  would  be  delighted  to  sell  the  horse  or  any 
thing  else  I  possessed,  as  I  had  not  a  dollar  except  Confederate  money,  which, 
at  that  period  of  its  history,  was  somewhat  below  par.  The  officer,  General  J.  I. 
Curtin,  of  Pennsylvania,  generously  paid  me  in  greenbacks  more  than  I  asked 
for  the  horse.  I  met  this  gentleman  in  1894,  nearly  30  years  afterward,  at  Wil- 
liamsport,  Pennsylvania.  He  gratified  me  again  by  informing  me  that  he  had 
sold  "General  Shaler"  for  a  much  higher  price  than  he  paid  me  for  him. 


TRIBUTE  TO  THE  FORTY-FIFTH 

WORCESTER,  MASS.,  October  1st,  1909. 
MR.  ALLEN  D.  ALBERT,  Secretary, 

No.  1626  29th  Street,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
MY  DEAR  COMRADE: 

Hurrah  for  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania,  and  every  soldier  in  it !  I  can 
never  forget  the  confidence  we  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Massachusetts  felt  in  your 
regiment.  If  deployed  as  skirmishers  we  always  followed  you,  knowing  you 
would  lead  with  courage.  If  we  were  in  the  advance  we  knew  we  should  be 
supported  by  you  as  long  as  a  man  remained.  If  you  were  upon  our  right  or 
left,  we  felt  our  flank  was  safe.  And  when  in  camp  your  good  fellowship  made 
us  happy. 

I  can  recall  many  places  where  we  groped  our  way  in  fire  or  smoke,  in- 
water  or  blood,  in  sunshine  and  rain,  in  woods  and  fields.  We  foraged  together 
and  knew  well  that  no  member  of  your  regiment  would  allow  one  of  us  to 
suffer.  We  left  our  camps  and  knew  you  would  guard  rather  than  destroy.  I 
believe  no  Forty-fifth  man  ever  stole  from  us  and  the  reverse  was  true. 

I  have  often  questioned  whether  any  other  two  regiments  were  as  closely 
bound  together.  1  have  often  said  that  I  would  like  to  meet  the  survivors,  and 
if  you  have  a  reunion,  I  will  try  to  come  to  it.  We  have  a  meeting  September 
2d,  each  year,  and  I  wish  you  would  come  some  time  and  be  with  us.  You  or  all 
of  the  Washington,  D.  C.,  Association  ;  in  fact  all  the  regiment  to  be  my  guests. 

1  thank  you  for  the  photo,  the  letter,  and  the  roster.  I  remember  Colonel 
Curtin  well,  and  I  am  pleased  to  know  that  he  is  alive  as  yet.  I  miss  the  name 
of  Major  Gregg,  whom  I  knew  intimately.  I  shall  never  forget  a  conversation 
with  him,  when  we  were  in  Mississippi  and  Lee  was  raiding  Pennsylvania, 
just  before  Gettysburg. 

I  have  visited  many  of  the  old  battlefields  and  found  much  to  thrill  one. 
The  next  time  I  am  in  Washington  I  shall  certainly  try  to  see  you.  We  had.  as 
you  know,  bummers  in  the  army,  but  I  do  not  recall  one  in  either  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Massachusetts  or  the  Forty-fifth  Pennsylvania. 

I  have  subscribed  for  a  copy  of  the  history  of  the  One  Hundredth  Penn 
sylvania,  and  if  you  get  one  published  count  me  a  subscriber. 

Yours  in  F.  C.  and  L., 

C.  W.  WOOD. 


Regimental  Monument  Antietam,  Md. 


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